Centered on one rivalry
Foothill soccer midseason report: Top teams the same in boys and girls
The same two schools rest atop the Foothill League boys and girls soccer standings at the halfway point. But two very different storylines emerged from Hart-Valencia battles for first place on Tuesday.
On the girls side, defending-champion Hart stamped out a Valencia uprising (at least for the moment) with a 2- 0 win.
While the Valencia boys upstaged last year’s winner, in a 2- 0 win over Hart that expanded the Vikings’ goal differential in league to 22- 0.
The schools will play again on Feb. 11, the last day of the regular season.
But for now, here’s how we got here.
Girls The divide between the top three teams and bottom three is more defined on the girls side — but there’s little separation between the former.
Valencia (9- 4- 4, 4-1- 0) was the only team to get to 4- 0- 0 in league, but Hart (11-3-5, 4- 0-1) rebounded from a tie with West Ranch to beat the Vikings and take over first place by one point.
The Wildcats (12-5-1, 3-1-1) trail the Vikings by two points. They’re aiming for their first league title after finishing in the top three of league for the first time ever last year.
As Valencia head coach Kevin Goralsky said, the crown is still up for grabs.
“There’s still plenty of season left, so we’re not out of it,” said Goralsky, whose team had given up just one goal in league play before the Hart game.
The Indians’ Sarah Lindborg scored both
goals on Tuesday, one in the 67th minute and the other in the 71st. She’s scored a leaguebest six goals in Foothill play, none bigger than the first against Valencia and the game-winner against Canyon.
“Sarah seems to have that coolness of not panicking,” said Hart head coach Guilherme Mitrovitch. “(She knows she’s) going to have the chance and has the composure that once she has the chance, she knows she can burry it.”
Joining Lindborg as leading Player of the Year candidates are Valencia’s Lauren Madero and West Ranch’s Sydney Caracciolo.
Caracciolo has been the catalyst for the Cats’ offense with four goals in league and 15 on the year. She scored their only goals in a 2- 0 win over Golden Valley on Tuesday and also scored game winners against Saugus and Canyon.
Madero has had two game-winners of her own — one against Saugus (7-7-5, 0- 4-1) and the other against Golden Valley (8-9-1, 1- 4- 0).
It’s hard to count out Canyon striker Alyssa Aguilar (three goals in league) from snagging the award and Canyon (6-7- 4, 1-3-1), which is six points back of third place, from getting back into the playoff race. But both have work to do.
Golden Valley beat Saugus for the first time in program history on Jan. 12, but the Grizzlies have since lost four straight.
Boys Three teams appeared frontrunners entering league play. But Valencia has clearly set itself apart.
The Vikings (141-1 overall, 5- 0- 0 in league) came into their showdown with Hart on Tuesday with an impressive record and a No. 3 ranking in the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 poll. But the question of whether they could knock off the reigning champs lingered.
Valencia left no doubt. Dylan Clifford scored two goals and the Vikings defense posted their seventh straight shutout. They’ve allowed a league-low six goals all season.
“Everyone wants to talk about all the goals we’re scoring,” said Valencia head coach Tony Scalercio. “But those mean nothing if you can’t keep people out of your goal.”
About those goals, though.
Josh Ferguson leads Valencia with 12 goals, six of which have come in league. Clifford has scored 11 times. And nine different Vikings have scored against Foothill opponents.
Hart’s Niall Shaffery has posted four goals in league to give him 14 on the year. And it’s not hard to foresee the Indians (9-2- 6, 4-1- 0) having a shot to at least share the title entering the final game.
They’re just three points back in the standings.
Saugus (10- 6-2, 2-2-1), the other early favorite, is five points behind Hart and led by James Johnson’s 13 goals, five in league. But third place and an automatic playoff spot are no guarantee.
West Ranch (6- 6-5, 2-2-1) has overcome two shutout losses to start league and has clawed into a tie for third. The Cats’ goal differential (5 for, 10 against) is misleading because they fell 7- 0 to Valencia to start league. Their other loss came to secondplace Hart.
Signal Sports Editor Dan Agnew contributed to this story.