Crystal girls’ soccer captures first-ever CCS title

But with an influx of talented freshmen this season, the Gryphons were ready to make their move — and make some noise.

And while that freshmen class is poised to do some great things in the coming years, it was a junior who was difference in the Central Coast Section Division V championship game. Vivi Cowan scored twice, including the game-winner with six minutes left in regulation, as the Gryphons captured their first-ever CCS girls’ soccer championship with a 2-1 win over The Nueva School at Sequoia High School Saturday morning.

“[Nueva is] our rival,” Cowan said. “It’s great beating them (for the championship). It’s crazy.”

After a 16-1-1 regular season and the WBAL Skyline Division title that saw them go 9-0-1, Crystal was awarded the No. 1 seed in the Central Coast Section Division V playoff bracket. And the Gryphons lived up to the billing, blasting Mills 9-0 in the first round and then getting a late goal in the semifinals to top Rancho San Juan 2-1 to advance to their first-ever CCS championship game.

Standing in Crystal’s way was a Nueva School team, that in many ways, resembled the Gryphons. The Mavericks ran roughshod through the Private School Athletic League’s North Division, going a perfect 11-0 and posting a 13-4-1 record overall and garnering the No. 2 seed in Division V which was also making their title game debut.

The teams had met twice during the regular season, with Crystal posting a shootout win in the Firebird Classic tournament hosted by Fremont-Sunnyvale. Three days later, the two met in a non-league game, with the Gryphons picking up a 3-2 decision.

Would the third time be the charm for the Mavericks? They could not have asked for a better start to Saturday’s championship game as they quickly took a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute. Defensive midfielder Alyse Graham-Martinez triggered the scoring play by picking up a loose ball near the midfield line and, with her head up, made a run before slotting a perfect through ball to a charging Kaila Erhlich, who split a pair of Crystal defenders, latched onto the ball and slotted a shot just inside the left post for the one-goal advantage.

It was the first of several dangerous passes off the foot of Graham-Martinez, who was slicing up the Gryphons defense early on.

“We started out a little disconnected. More panic than urgency,” said Crystal head coach Luisa Monterossa. “[The goal] was so early in the game that I didn’t worry right away.”

The Mavericks stayed on the front foot for the next several minutes. Erhlich made a penetrating pass to Miriam Hershenson in the middle of the field, but the Gryphon defense cleared it away in the 13th minute. In the 14th minute, Siri Patel poked a shot on goal that was saved, followed three minutes later by Crystal goalkeeper Mia Ramos getting first to a 50-50 ball at the top of the box.

And then Cowan came alive. After the Gryphons kept the ball in the attacking zone, it popped out to Cowan, about 30 yards from goal near the left sideline. With no one around her, she put a shot on goal. the high-arcing shot was over the goalkeeper’s head and settled into the upper right corner of the net for a stunning equalizer in the 20th minute.

“I think people sleep on [Cowan],” Monterossa said. “[Opposing teams] shift their focus to our higher-level players. I think people underestimate her. She’s come up clutch when we needed her.”

Nueva, however, continued to have the better of the run of play for the final 20 minutes of the first half, but could not solve the Crystal defense and the two went into halftime knotted at 1-all.

The majority of the second half was played in the Mavericks end as Monterossa changed up her formation to clog up the middle of the field and prevent the long, penetrating passes Nueva was using to great effect in the first half.

The move worked brilliantly as the Gryphons all but marked Nueva’s Graham-Martinez out of the game.

“The second half, we just wanted it more,” Cowans said. “The second half we just tried to come out harder.”

The Crystal offense, meanwhile, was throwing waves of attacks on the Mavericks’ goal. Cowan had an early opportunity to put the Gryphons up, when Lauryn Fleshman, a sophomore, intercepted a pass deep in Nueva’s end and made run parallel to the penalty box before slipping a pass into the box. Cowan tried to chase it down, but the goalkeeper got to it first.

The Gryphons, after just one shot in the first half, had three in the first 10 minutes of the second half and they kept their foot on the gas for the remainder of the game. In the 65th minute, Clara Toscani, one of 10 freshmen on the roster, whipped a cross into the box that found Cowan, who hammered a one-timer on frame, but the Maverick goalkeeper made a nice reaction save to keep the game tied.

But in the 74th minute, Cowan would not be denied. In a recreation of her first goal, Cowans received to ball at the right side of the Nueva penalty box, and just like her first strike, lofted a high-arcing shot that nestled just inside the far left post to put the Gryphons up 2-1 with six minutes of regulation remaining.

“The first one, I was just trying to shoot. … The second goal … I didn’t expect that to go in,” Cowan said.

Nueva had one last gasp, however, as Graham-Martinez sent a free kick into the Crystal penalty box. The ball bounced once before ending up on the foot of a Mavericks’ attacker, but she popped her shot just over the top of the goal in the 79th minute.

About 10 minutes later, the Gryphons were raising their first-ever CCS soccer championship trophy and on Monday, they start preparing for the Northern California regional tournament.