Belief has Scots in CCS finals

Carlmont, which finished in fifth place in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division, was one of the last teams to make the CCS top-40 cut. Now the fourth-seeded Scots are the last PAL team standing as they take on top-seeded Aptos (9-1-3) in the CCS Division IV championship game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Del Mar High School.

“All season, we felt if we played to our potential, we felt we could beat anyone,” said Carlmont head coach Ryan Freeman, a 2014 Carlmont graduate who went to a pair of CCS Division I semifinal games during his time playing for the Scots.

“We had the bad spell and turned it around. … We caught fire.”

Carlmont (8-6-6) dropped to 2-4-2 in Bay play following a 2-1 loss to Burlingame Jan. 21. It was fifth straight game without a win as the Scots garnered only 2 of a possible 15 points available, with scoreless draws against Hillsdale and Menlo-Atherton.

But the Scots still held firm to the belief they were a good team. It wasn’t like Carlmont was getting blown out in these losses. They were what soccer fans like to call “That’s soccer” losses, where one mistake costs you.

During that five-game stretch, Carlmont was outscored just 4-1.

Now, the Scots seemingly can’t lose. They enter the CCS final on an eight-game unbeaten streak. A 1-0 win at M-A Feb. 2 ignited a 3-0-3 finish to Bay Division play to move from seventh to fifth in the standings.

Now playing with house money, the Scots have extended their streak into the playoffs. They opened with a 4-2 win over No. 5 Willow Glen in the first round last Saturday, followed by a taut 1-0 win over top-seeded Prospect in the semifinals Wednesday.

Both Carlmont and Aptos have similar playoff histories. Both have been perennial contenders in their league or division, with the Mariners having been a top-two team in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League for the last several years with win totals of 14, 14 and 13 over the previous three seasons.

But that regular-season success hasn’t necessarily translated to the postseason. Carlmont, which won the 1999 Division I title under head coach Fred Cesano, will be appearing in only its third CCS final. Their last appearance was the 2017 Open Division championship, when the Scots were beaten 5-2 by St. Ignatius.

Aptos’ playoff success is even more sparse. The Mariners’ only other finals appearance came in 2001, when they fell 1-0 in the DI final to Bellarmine.

Freeman credits the team’s turn around not necessarily by playing better or focusing on the results. Their mentality was one game at a time and, when you get down to it, the Scots have been in playoff mode since the beginning of February.

“The whole second half of the season, we just said we’re going to give it absolutely everything,” Freeman said. “Over the season, as difficult as those moments were, it benefitted us in the long time. We’re more battle hardened.”

Division V

No. 1 Crystal (17-2-2) vs No. 2 Soledad (16-3-3)

10 a.m. Saturday at Everett Alvarez High School-Salinas

The Gryphons are hoping the second time is the charm as they will play for the Division V title for the second year in a row.

Last year, they fell to Milpitas in penalty kicks.

It’s been a slow build for Crystal, which went 0-14 in head coach Roberto Miranda’s first season in 2018-19. But over the last four years, the Gryphons are averaging 13 wins and the 17 wins this season are a program best.

Soledad is making its first CCS finals appearance after posting its first winning record since going 6-5-5 in 2019-20.

Girls’ soccer

Division IV

No. 3 Crystal (12-3-4) vs No. 5 Menlo School (9-4-7)

3 p.m. Saturday at Sequoia High School

The Gryphons are back in the finals for the second time in three years, beating Nueva School 2-1 for the 2024 title.

Menlo won the Division III crown last year, a 2-1 win over Mountain View. This is the 13th finals appearance in CCS history for the Knights, who have won eight championships since 1977.

Division V

No. 3 Nueva School (17-3-1) vs No. 4 Watsonville (14-5-1)

10 a.m. Saturday at Sequoia High School

Nueva is making its second title game appearance in three years, falling to Crystal 2-1 in the 2024 championship game. The Mavericks have dominated Private School Athletic League North Division play for the last five seasons, going undefeated in North Division play for the fifth year in a row and are riding a 52-game winning streak.

Watsonville is making its first-ever championship game appearance after posting its first winning record since 2016-17.