A season of dreams is over for the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Champion, Scotts Valley Falcon girls soccer team, as the dropped their second round playoff game 1-0 to host Valley Christian High School.
The Falcons were seeded No.1 in division III of the Central Coast Section playoffs with a record of 13-4-2 but fell to the No. 8 Warriors after Valley Christian (10-6-5) scored the lone goal early in the game and shut the Falcons out for the duration of play.
The Falcons won the SCCAL outright with a 10-1-1 record and earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The Valley Christian goal came on a miscommunication when the ball was left untended in front of the net and a Warrior player got her foot on the ball and dinked in a slow roller just past the outstretched arms of Falcon goalkeeper Emily Johnson.
The Falcons had shut out 14 opponents this season, while themselves being held scoreless only three times. Two of those shut-out losses were to Valley Christian.
“We’ve developed a unique blend of skilled underclassmen and talented senior leadership.” Assistant Coach Mike Ross said. “Our makeup is truly unified and humble.”
The Scotts Valley offense had four shots on goal to Valley Christians two. Most of the game was played back in the Warrior backfield but their staunch defense held out for the CCS win.
The Falcon forwards had the Warriors on their heels almost the entire game. The Falcon forwards were led by junior captain Jordin Carlson, junior captain Emily Payne, senior Aly Ayers, junior Taylor Rohde and senior captain Keara McCullough.
The Falcon defense was once again steady. Their defense was led all season by senior captain and SCCAL MVP Aly Bothman, junior captain Kalynn Morano, sophomore Kacey Lilly, sophomore Rachel DuBridge and freshman Megan Keating.
