Boys' Bay Division should be wide open this season

The following is a look at the Bay Division teams and their prospects for this season. Preseason records are in parentheses. The Woodside coach could not be reached for this preview.

Burlingame (0-2-2)

After an 0-2-1 start, the season is starting to look up for the Panthers as the team gets healthy and settles into their correct roles.

"I feel good about the team now," said coach Fred Cesano. "This team needs to overachieve. They need to get more out of themselves than they ever have before."

Burlingame took a big hit, however, with the loss of senior defender Nate Stoner, who suffered a severe ankle dislocation during a 3-0 loss to Carlmont Nov. 28.

"He was a leader through example," Cesano said. "The kids looked up to him."

Senior midfielder Cameron Harris is taking over some of that leadership role. A player with a constant motor, he'll challenge any ball he thinks he can get to, with that pressure transitioning into attacking chances.

"He's our spark plug," Cesano said. "His value comes in his hustle on the field. He's always in the middle of everything. We feed off his hustle. He's our emotional leader."

Senior forward Cole Cretcher is starting to come into shape after an injury. He'll be joined up top by juniors Peter Olskiy and Sean Partee. The midfield is manned by sophomore Ryan Hirooka and senior Chris Graubart. Hirooka will also see some time at forward.

Senior Nick Pessah, a second-team, all-league selection last season, is settling into his comfortable spot as a defensive midfielder after spending the preseason in a more attacking role.

"Our goal is to win league, our goal is to go to CCS," Cesano said. "I have enough talent on this team, if they play together, to contend for the title."

Capuchino (5-1)

The Mustangs make their return to the Bay Division this season, much as they have every other season over the past few years. This year, coach Rod Kovacevic hopes to make the stay a longer one.

"We're looking to stay in the Bay," Kovacevic said. "Hopefully we'll finish in the middle of the pack. Last year, we finished strong, but we missed out (on an Ocean Division title) by one point. That cost us the playoffs."

A fourth-place finish in the Bay Division actually has a better chance at making the playoffs than a second-place finish in the Ocean Division because of the power rankings.

Capuchino will have a shot to make CCS this season as long as Nick Cukar has the kind of season he did last year. The Ocean Division Striker of the Year and leading goal scorer last season, Cukar is one of league's purest goal scorers.

"He's playing with even more energy this year than he did last year although he will be a bit of a target (by opposing defenses this year)," Kovacevic said. "I don't really have someone to match with him on the other side."

Kovacevic said the midfield is the Mustangs' biggest question mark. Sean Mitchell and Bobby Spears, both juniors, started there last season. The outsides are manned by senior Toby Aguilar and Garrett Rodriguez.

The defense is solid in the middle with the return of senior sweeper Philip Zavala -- who broke his leg late last season -- and stopper Gustavo Lopez. Both are big, aggressive and strong in the air.

The outside defense, however, is another story.

"We'll be tested on the outside," Kovacevic said.

Hillsdale (2-0)

The Knights move up to the Bay Division after winning the Ocean Division title last season and advancing to the CCS playoffs semifinals.

The Knights are missing a few key players due to grades and academic problems, but coach Andy Hodzic said he does get some relief from the versatility of the players he does have.

"Their versatility has helped me," Hodzic said. "Unfortunately, I don't know these teams in the Bay Division. I don't know what to expect this year."

Hillsdale returns a number of key players from last season, but they'll be playing in different spots from last year. Jose Mejia, the Daily Journal's Player of the Year last season, is moving from sweeper to midfield this season and is paired with Dima Wyman to form a potent distribution tandem.

"[Mejia] can play anything, but I'm going to put him in the midfield, in the beginning (of the season)," Hodzic said. "I lost a couple of midfielders from last year so I need some offense."

Senior Michael Pleitez is also helping out in the midfield, a change from his stopper role last season.

Yvan Trevino is another player who can attack or defend. He'll begin the season as the Knights' defensive stopper, but he spent some time at forward during the preseason.

"He's a good passer. He can help on offense and defense," Hodzic said.

The one true returning striker is Marko Brekalo who carried the team early last season with his goal-scoring ability.

"He's an excellent passer, can play both sides of the field and he can score," Hodzic said.

Menlo-Atherton (2-2)

The Bears return only four players from last year's squad so the 2005-06 season focus is on rebuilding and getting players experience, said second-year coach Beto Luna.

"What I'm thinking is working with the guys for next year and the year after that," Luna aid. "It's a very young team. I have only three or four seniors and the rest are all sophomores and some juniors. I think were good enough not to worry about relegation."

The one player he did point out was sophomore forward Jorge Bonilla.

"He's tricky," Luna said. "He's real small, but real fast. He's a goal scorer."

Menlo School (3-3)

The Knights are in a rebuilding mode this season and coach Nik Charalaghi is putting more emphasis on having fun and playing an entertaining style of soccer.

"We're going to play to win," Charalaghi said "We're not going to play conservative."

Charalaghi said he has only a handful of returning seniors this season, but they man key positions. Central defender Austin Brown serves as co-captain and is dangerous with long passes over the defense and on set plays. The other co-captain is senior Brian Nichols, a left midfielder.

"He plays through transition very well," Charalaghi said.

Joining Brown along the backline is senior right fullback Ted Miller, who Charalaghi expects to push up into the attack whenever possible. Andrew Tight serves as the Knights' playmaker in the midfield.

"Our objective is to have fun and aim for the top three spots," Charalaghi said.

Sequoia (1-2)

The Cherokees was one win short of winning the Bay Division title last season. They tied Westmoor 3-3 on the final day of the season when nothing short of victory would give them the title.

Second-year coach Juan Rosales doesn't plan on coming up short again this season.

"That's my goal, to be at the top of the table right away," Rosales said.

With one of the most skillful on-the-ball teams, Sequoia should be right there.

Senior midfielder Jose Garcia will team with junior midfielder Jorge Mendoza to form a potent tandem in the middle. Rosales said Garcia is the more calm player while Mendoza is the more excitable, aggressive player.

"Both are really (good) individual players," Rosales said.

Omar Cordero, a senior forward, and Marcus Cisneros, a senior sweeper, makes the Cherokees solid in the middle of the field.

"(Cordero) is a really physical player, really strong, fast," Rosales said. "(Cisneros) is really calm. He's one of the [best] defenders in the league."

Westmoor (0-1-2)

After 10 years as the Rams' frosh-soph coach, Ricardo Marta Jr. takes over the varsity program, which is coming off the first Bay Division title in the school's history. He's replacing longtime coach Omar Rashid, who took over the girls' program this season.

Just because Marta is new doesn't mean he doesn't have big expectations for the team.

"I think we're going to be competitive," Marta said. "We're going to work extremely hard to defend our title but we also know that it will be a hard task. We have our work cut out for us."

The defense is the key to the Rams' success. The backline consists of seniors Kyin Kyu and Lizandro Ponce, along with juniors Valentine Perez and Giovanni Gonzalez. They'll play in front of goalkeeper Francisco Hernandez, who Marta believes is one of the best in the league.

"He can stop the simple balls and make the great saves when we need him to," Marta said.

Efrain Burgos, a junior midfielder/forward, triggers the Rams' offense. A very technical player with the ball at his feet, he is the team's main distributor in the midfield. When he pushes into a striker role, he'll be matched with junior Leo Renderos.

Filling in the midfield when Burgos pushes up is his brother Julio and newcomer Jesse Cisneros.