Carlmont locks up fifth-straight title

Panthers head coach Phillip De Rosa, who describes himself as adopting a defensive strategy on the field, stacked his backfield whenever he found it necessary, sometimes having as many as seven players defending the goal.

Carlmont, as they have in so many other games this season, attacked early and often, dominating possession of the ball through much of the first half. An early drive found Scots' senior Lindsay Garehime with what perhaps might have been the first goal, only to be denied as Panthers goalkeeper Blythe Davis. Davis would do much to shutdown the Scots during the game, allowing only one goal on eight attempts.

Davis was not the only Burlingame player to excel defensively. Kristi Morales found herself twice in the unique position of clearing the ball off the goalline after Davis had lost control. The first, which came off of a Katie Herskovitz shot in the 35th minute, was deflected out by Morales after Davis fell as she tried to get to the ball. Morales did it again moments later, kicking away a ball which landed in front of her on the goalline.

The Scots also provided some exciting moments on defense. One came in the 27th minute as goal keeper Jenny Lawrence, charging out of the net, kicked the ball away from Alicia Perdue as she tried to line up a shot.

Carlmont let loose its offense in the second half, pulling out all the stops as they tried to crack Burlingame's defense. The Panthers continued to hold tough however and even put on some offense of their own as Katie Wolfe just missed with a header after receiving a corner kick from Amanda Goll in the 42nd minute.

The Scots finally found the magic they were looking for with less then 10 minutes left in the game. On a Carlmont drive down field, junior Andrea Carrara got possession of the ball after beating a Burlingame player. Carrara setup a shot from just outside the penalty box that Davis could not get to in time despite a valiant effort.

De Rosa told his girls after the match that this was one of the most hard fought battles they had ever had and they should not be ashamed of their loss.

"We got a lot of the 50-50 balls and put a lot of shots on their side," said De Rosa. "I'm happy with the performance and effort they showed [Thursday]."

Jim Kelly of Carlmont had similar kind words for the Burlingame girls, saying his team had to work extra hard against them.

"At halftime I told my girls we were not playing for a tie," said Kelly. "This was one of those scrappy games where there was no room to do pretty things."

Both coaches are now working on preparing their teams for the Central Coast Sectional championships. The top three teams the Bay Division qualify to compete and Kelly and De Rosa have extensive plans to get their teams ready.

Aragon 1, Woodside 0

The Dons assumed second place behind Carlmont in Bay Division standings due to their shutout win over the Wildcats and Burlingame's loss to the Scots.

Sarah Paredes scored the game's only goal to give Aragon its seventh win in eight games.

With the win, the Dons improved to 8-3-2 in division play, good for 26 points and a one-point advantage over Burlingame (8-4-1, 25 points).

Both teams have only one regular-season game remaining. Aragon will face Terra Nova on Tuesday while Burlingame will take on long-time rival San Mateo.