Over the last several years, San Mateo County has shown to be a soccer hotbed when it comes to the Central Coast Section tournament.
Not so much this season.
Twenty-one county teams — 10 boys, 11 girls from the Peninsula Athletic League, West Bay Athletic League and Private School Athletic League — played first-round games Saturday, compiling an overall record of 10-11.
Girls’ teams enjoyed a little more success, winning six of 11 games. The boys’ teams were 4-6.
On the girls’ side, Woodside advanced to the semifinal round of the Open Division as the fifth-seeded Wildcats knocked off No. 4 Pioneer, 2-1. Woodside (10-0-3) will renew its rivalry against Mitty (7-0-2) by hosting the Monarchs at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Mitty eliminated No. 8 Hillsdale (9-3-1), 4-0.
The WBAL’s Menlo School (8-0-1), the top seed in Division I, will join rival Sacred Heart Prep in the semifinals Wednesday as the Knights posted a 5-1 win over No. 8 Santa Cruz. Menlo will host No. 4 Branham (7-2-3) at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Branham beat No. 5 Aptos, 1-0.
Notre Dame-Belmont (6-3-1), the No. 6 seed in Division I, was eliminated by No. 3 Soquel, 2-0.
One of the Division II semifinals will be an all-PAL affair as Sequoia and Menlo-Atherton will meet in Redwood at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Sequoia (5-3-3), the No. 3 seed, took down No. 6 Sacred Heart Cathedral, 1-0. M-A (4-3-5) shut out No. 2 Saratoga (11-2), 3-0.
Recommended for you
Nueva School, the lone local PSAL school in the tournament, had a short stay in the Division III bracket as the No. 8 Mavericks (6-5) were knocked out by Christopher-Gilroy, 4-0.
In boys’ CCS play, county teams were eliminated from the Open Division bracket. Aragon (6-3-3), the No. 7 seed, was taken out by No. 2 Bellarmine (9-0-1), 5-1. Menlo School (10-1), the No. 5 seed, was ousted in overtime by No. 4 Leland (7-2-4), 4-3.
Third-seeded Menlo-Atherton (7-3-2) was the lone PAL school to advance in the Division I bracket, knocking off No. 6 St. Francis (6-3-2), 2-1 in overtime. The Bears will host No. 7 Leigh (7-3-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Longhorns upset No. 2 Wilcox, 1-0.
Woodside (12-1), the No. 1 seed, was dealt its only loss of the season, falling 2-1 to No. 8 Watsonville. Burlingame (6-5-1), the No. 4 seed, was eliminated by No. 5 Lincoln, 2-1.
In Division II, No. 7 Sacred Heart Prep (8-3) blasted No. 2 San Benito (8-1-2), 8-1. The Gators will be at No. 6 Monta Vista (7-2-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday after the Matadors knocked off No. 3 Los Altos (7-3-2), 1-0.
No. 3 San Mateo (7-6-1) will represent the county in the Division III semifinals after beating No. 6 Woodside Priory (6-4-1), 4-1. The Bearcats will be at No. 2 Willow Glen (10-0-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Rams routed No. 7 Gonzalez, 6-0.
Design Tech (6-0-1) will fly the PSAL banner in the Division IV semifinals after the No. 4 Dragons knocked off No. 5 South City (7-6), 3-2. The Dragons will face No. 1 Harbor (8-3-1) in Santa Cruz at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Harbor beat No. 8 Christopher-Gilroy 7-6 in penalty kicks.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.