Heritage comes up one goal short in CIF championship game
Kaila Castellanos (13) controls the ball for Heritage Friday night. (Photo by Haven Rice) By Doug Spoon, Editor The Heritage Patriots had ...
By Doug Spoon, Editor
The Heritage Patriots had some great scoring chances and kept yet another playoff game close, but visiting Viewpoint High came away with a 2-1 victory Friday night in the CIF-SS Division 5 girls soccer championship game.
Viewpoint forward Charlotte Young scored from the top of the circle with 18:09 remaining to break a 1-1 tie, and Viewpoint’s defense withstood a number of Heritage scoring opportunities to claim the CIF title. Viewpoint, also named the Patriots, improved its overall record to 10-5-5 with the victory.
The season isn’t over for Heritage, now 18-9-1 overall. The Patriots will find out on Sunday who their opponent will be in the first round of the CIF State regional playoffs, which take place on Tuesday. As they showed again in this game, the Patriots have the talent to play with anyone, so next week should be interesting as well.
Viewpoint controlled ball possession for much of the first half, and several minutes into the game it took the lead on a goal by Misahra Briscoe. She raced down the left sideline on a breakaway, made Heritage goalkeeper Brisa Quiroz commit, and placed a long rolling shot past the goalie into the left corner of the net.
Heritage senior forward Lexie Jimenez had several opportunities down the left sideline in the minutes that followed. One shot was blocked by a defender. On two other plays, her lead pass to Kaila Castellanos resulted in a goalie save and an offsides call.
Finally, Heritage tied the score on an impressive goal by Jimenez. She took the ball deep in her own zone, made her way past defenders at midfield, and scored on a shot from the left side. That was all the scoring for the first half.
Jimenez and Castellanos worked together well on more scoring opportunities in the second half, but Heritage had trouble moving the ball in deep against Viewpoint’s tall, physical back line players. One of Heritage’s best scoring chances came when Castellanos raced toward the net on a breakaway. But out of nowhere, Viewpoint defender Samantha Marella came in to make a sliding takeaway and end the threat.
“It definitely went in waves,” Heritage coach Michael Mattison said about the momentum shifts. “I thought in the second half we were starting to control the ball. Not really getting good looks, but we were pushing the ball and trying to create space. But they have a very disciplined back line and midfielders who will hang back, and they just don’t allow a lot of space for you. And the girl with the slide tackle is just as good. When you try to get behind them, that center defender slides in to take the ball.”
The sliding tackle came moments after Young’s goal for Viewpoint with 18:09 remaining broke the tie.
Jimenez left the game for a few minutes midway through the second half with a sore leg, but she soon returned and remained as center of the Heritage offense.
“She’s had a number of leg injuries over the years,” Mattison said. “Because she plays at that pace, she does take a lot of contact.”
Jimenez, the team’s leading scorer with 31 goals, tried her best to stay positive after the loss.
“I’m very proud of how far we’ve come,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group to play with.”
Mattison realizes that as a CIF-SS runner-up, the Patriots probably will be on the road against an undetermined opponent on Tuesday, but he doesn’t see that as a problem.
“We’ve actually done better on the road and the girls like going on road trips, so we’ll embrace that challenge,” he said. “Everything’s gravy at this point, so we’re just enjoying everything we can."
He also had praise for goalkeeper Quiroz, who made several key saves.
“She did spectacular,” he said. “They could’ve easily scored a couple other goals. The one on the corner kick where she came forward to catch it, I still don’t know how she even caught it. She has amazing hands and she’s so brave in the box. She doesn’t shy away and she goes straight at the ball. She keeps us in the game.”
Lexie Jimenez (10) and Danica Doskocil celebrate Jimenez' goal. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
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Zoey Romero prepares to kick the ball upfield in Friday's game. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
Lexie Jimenez moves into scoring position for Heritage on Friday. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
