Carlmont girls' soccer team comes up with statement win

And 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the second of Carlmont’s back-to-back CCS championships under Jim Kelly.

Quan would like to see the 2026 edition of the Scots start to bring the program back to that level, that sees them competing for Bay Division and CCS titles again. They have spent two of the last four years dominating in the Ocean Division, winning the 2025 title, to earn promotion back to the Bay for 2026.

“That’s what we talked about (Wednesday night): legacy,” Quan said. “We want to be a threat in this league (again).”

Well, the Scots certainly put the rest of the Bay Division on notice. They hosted defending division champ Woodside and was the team that took advantage of one of its few opportunities to beat the Wildcats 1-0 in Belmont Thursday evening.

“Woodside is always a tough team,” Quan said. “It’s always nice to beat a top team.”

It was a disappointing result for Woodside, which seemingly did everything you can ask of a team to be successful. The Wildcats had the Scots pinned into their own half for much of the first half; the Woodside defensive was confidently stepping up and not only cutting off any potential attacks, but were actively involved in triggering the offense.

The Wildcats’ forward line was pressing the Carlmont defenders, making it difficult for the Scots to build out of the back and were forced into numerous turnovers.

The one thing lacking was actually making things happen in and around the penalty box.

“It was frustrating,” said Woodside head coach Alex Herrera. “I thought we controlled the majority of the game.

“It was weird. We were coming off a win against Hillsdale (2-0 Tuesday) and were creating a lot of chances.”

Twice in the opening 10 minutes the Wildcats got a ball out to the right flank and twice got crosses off, but neither were especially dangerous. The Wildcats were controlling the midfield and they started to find some gaps in the Carlmont defense as Natalia Lopez found Alyssa Moreno open at the top of the penalty, but she pulled her shot attempt well wide.

But the Scots’ defense calmly and patiently kept the Woodside attack at bay.

“That’s what we were working on (in practice), building out (from the back) under pressure,” Quan said. “They did press us hard, but it gave us some challenges to work out of.”

And then a little past the midway point, against the run of play, Carlmont (2-0 PAL Bay, 5-2-1 overall) took advantage of its moment. The Scots had finally managed to get out of its end and start building an attack and they had been buzzing around the final third. The ball had been pinging around near the Woodside penalty box when the Gianna Armanini suddenly had the ball at her feet and she quickly fired a shot from 18 yards out, finding the upper right-hand corner for the game’s only goal in the 25th minute.

“She’s a scrappy player in and around the goal,” Quan said of Armanini. “She’s in the right place at the right time and she finishes.”

That goal seemed to embolden the Scots, who evened out play for the rest of the half to lead at the break. And they nearly caught Woodside (1-1-1, 4-2-2) napping to open the second half. In the first minute, Lindsay Wong won a ball near midfield and sent a pass to the left flank that Eva Awoyinka chased down. She carried the ball toward the end line before sending a cross to the far right post where Niko Aretun was crashing, but her one-timer was saved by Woodside goalkeeper Giuliana Perez.

It was the only real scoring chance for either team in the second half. Woodside finally started to get the ball into the Carlmont penalty box in the final minutes of the game, but could not find the equalizer.

“Coming out strong is going to be really good mentally,” Quan said. “Now teams (in the Bay) have something to be afraid of.”