Pacific Collegiate takes CAL title away from defending champion
Hawks
MONTEREY
Things have quickly turned for the Anzar High girls soccer team, the defending champions of the Coastal Athletic League.
After a 12-0 romp on Marina last Wednesday, the Hawks have since dropped two straight, losing 3-2 at Pacific Collegiate on Friday and falling 2-1 to York on Monday.
Previously undefeated in the CAL, Anzar is now 5-2-2 in league, 5-5-3 overall.
With just one game remaining – at home to Gonzales on Wednesday – Anzar is officially out of contention for the league title.
In fact, Pacific Collegiate has already clinched the CAL title with a 7-0-1 record and two games remaining against Calvary Christian and Marina, which combined have not won a game this season.
York, at 5-2-2, is currently tied for second place with the Hawks, and still has one game remaining against Marina.
York could very well tie Anzar for runner-up in league.
The Hawks are ensured to be better than .500 in league, though, meaning they can be considered for an at-large bid toward the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs.
They will need a little luck, of course, something they were without over their last two games.
On Friday in Santa Cruz, Pacific Collegiate edged Anzar 3-2 in a very muddy contest, Anzar High head coach Albert Flores said.
The Pumas went up 2-nil in the first 15 minutes, the second goal coming when an Anzar defender accidentally headed the ball into her own net.
“It was just one of those headers that instead of going forward, it went backward,” Flores said. “But that’s the way it bounces sometimes.”
The Hawks cut the deficit in half when Jocelyn Sicairos scored in the 31st minute to make the score 2-1 at halftime.
“The first 30 minutes of the second half went back and forth, a very evenly played game,” Flores said.
But in the 64th minute, Pacific Collegiate went up 3-1.
Flores said that a hard foul on an Anzar defender went uncalled by officials, and the Hawks stopped playing as a result, perhaps awaiting a whistle.
“One girl tapped it to the other. She shot it on goal and nobody was moving,” Flores said. “That was the backbreaker.”
Anzar’s Alex Flores made it 3-2 during the 79th minute, but any comeback would be too late for the Hawks.
On Monday in Monterey, the Hawks’ misfortunes continued.
Anzar and York exchanged goals early on – Michelle Chatley scoring for the Hawks in the 5th minute – but the Falcons broke the tie in the 75th minute on a breakaway goal to send Anzar home with a 2-1 loss.
“We went into the second half, kind of even,” Flores said. “But this game is decided by inches, and this game definitely was.”
Anzar will celebrate its six seniors on Wednesday in the team’s final home game of the regular season against Gonzales. Kick-off is at 3:30 p.m.
TEAM 1 2 F
ANZ 1 1 2
PCS 2 1 3
TEAM 1 2 F
ANZ 1 0 1
YRK 1 1 2
