The Christian High School girls soccer team has turned in quite a season so far. The hope for the El Cajon-based team is that the 2020-21 season is not over yet.
The Patriot ladies racked up some impressive numbers during the spring season, not the least of which is a prodigious 17-1-3 regular season record and season-ending 18-match unbeaten streak.
Perhaps to no one’s surprise, Christian received the top seed in the upcoming Division III playoff field.
“We are excited and honored to have the No. 1 seed in Division III this season,” Christian head coach Joel Waymire said. “We definitely feel we have earned it, but we know that it comes with a large target painted on our chests.
“We have played a lot of the teams that are in the Division III playoffs, and I’m sure they are looking forward to a chance to avenge an earlier loss. We have to stay focused, keep working hard, and out-effort everyone else.”
Success has come at both ends of the pitch.
Christian has scored 95 goals this season (4.5 goals per game) and allowed 17 goals (0.80 goals per game) while recording 10 shutouts.
The Patriots finished City League play 6-0-2 as league champions.
Waymire pointed out some interesting tidbits about this season’s team.
“We are a Division III team based on performance and Division V team based on enrollment,” he said. “Our record against Division I schools this season was 3-0, against Division II schools was 3-1-1 and against Division III schools was 7-0-2. We were 4-0 against Division IV schools.
“Another interesting stat is that we have scored 12 goals in the first five minutes of the first half, and another 12 goals in the first five minutes of the second half.”
It’s called getting the job done.
Senior Leah Kunde leads the team in scoring with 28 goals, followed by senior Stella Rubidoux with 20 goals. Sophomore Jasmine Guzman ranks third with 18 goals.
Rubidoux tops the team with 12 assists while Kunde, Guzman and sophomore Jasmine Kinong each have eight assists. Junior Allie Buchmann has recorded seven assists while junior Harmony Blizard has scored six goals from free kicks (eight total).
Season 2 activities have been challenging as far as scheduling goes, especially for any multi-sport athletes.
“Probably the biggest challenge this season was dealing with all of the conflicts with other sports and events going on at the same time,” Waymire said. “Most of our girls have been playing club soccer throughout the high school season, so they’ve been doubling-up on practices a couple days a week and playing one to two club games on the weekend. So, we had to adjust to this by not scheduling any Saturday games and cutting back on our practices. Most weeks this season we have had a day off during the week to let the girls rest their legs a bit.
“This is not something that we have done in the past, but I think it paid off because we have not had many injuries and the girls seem pretty energetic on game day. And we’ve had several games, including a couple critical league games, where we played with a few starters not present due to club soccer conflicts. But these provided great opportunities for other players to step in and fill a role for us and gain some valuable experience.
“The girls are so thankful that they were able to play this season and that our school has been open full-time since August. This has been a challenging school year, but also a great one. The pandemic has helped us to see that there is very little we can trust in in this world. But God is always there for those who believe and obey Him. So, we want to stay strong in our faith and play in a manner worthy of our Lord. Hopefully, we can finish this season with a CIF title to go with our league title.”
Christian hosts the winner of Tuesday’s first-round match between eighth-seeded University City (6-5-2) and ninth-seeded Monte Vista (8-5-1).
Semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, May 25. The division championship game is scheduled May 29 at Mission Bay High School, starting at 1:30 p.m.
Girl power
Five East County teams qFive East County teams qualified for the Division I girls field, enhancing the chances of a Grossmont Conference team advancing deep into the playoffs in the division.
Third-seeded Helix Charter (5-3-5) and fourth-seeded West Hills (9-8-2) both received byes to the Friday’s quarterfinals while fifth-seeded Granite Hills (5-4-5), 10th-seeded Steele Canyon (6-7-4) and 11th-seeded Grossmont (2-12-1) all received first-round assignments on Tuesday.
Helix Charter will host sixth-seeded Canyon Crest Academy (4-9-3) after the Ravens shut out Grossmont, 2-0, in Tuesday’s opening round.
West Hills will host the winner of Tuesday’s opening-round match between Granite Hills and 12th-seeded Escondido Charter (0-12-2).
Steele Canyon upset seventh-seeded Mission Bay (6-5-5) by a score of 2-1 in overtime to highlight Tuesday’s spate of first-round playoff games to advance to meet No. 2 Mater Dei Catholic (8-7) in the quarterfinals.
Del Norte (8-4-3) received the top seed in the division.
Semifinals are scheduled Tuesday, May 25. The division championship is scheduled May 29 at 4:30 p.m. at Mission Bay High School.
Grossmont won last year’s Division I championship after winning the Division II championship two years ago.
Valhalla (9-2-3) received the No. 2 seed in the Division II girls field and will host the winner of Tuesday’s opening-round match between seventh-seeded San Dieguito Academy (6-7-5) and 10th-seeded Patrick Henry (7-3-4).
Semifinals are scheduled May 25. The division championship game is scheduled May 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Eastlake High School.
Santana (12-3-2) received the No. 7 seed in the Division III girls field but fell, 1-0, to 10th-seeded Sage Creek (7-5-3) in Tuesday’s opening round.
Foothills Christian, last year’s Division V champion, received the No. 6 seed in this year’s Division IV girls field while Mountain Empire received the No. 12 seed.
Both teams were scheduled to participate in Tuesday’s opening elimination round. Foothills Christian (11-3-2) blanked 11th-seeded High Tech High San Diego (4-11-1) by a 4-0 score while Mountain Empire (7-5) dropped a 2-1 decision at fifth-seeded Brawley (9-5-2).
The division championship game is scheduled May 29 at 11 a.m. at Eastlake High School
River Valley (7-7-3) received the No. 2 seed in the Division V girls field while Mount Miguel (5-8) received the No. 3 seed. Both teams received byes to Friday’s quarterfinals.
River Valley will host the winner of Tuesday’s first-round match between seventh-seeded Orange Glen (1-6-6-) and 10th-seeded Liberty Charter while Mount Miguel will host the winner of Tuesday’s first-round contest between sixth-seeded Madison (6-10) and 11th-seeded Guajome Park Academy (3-8-3).
Guajome Park Academy shut out El Cajon Valley, 13-0, in Monday’s play-in round while Liberty Charter (2-10) defeated HTH Chula Vista (0-2-1) by a score of 4-0.
The division championship game is May 28 at 4:30 p.m. at Eastlake High School.
