San Mateo girls’ soccer wins first playoff game since 1995

Helu scored the game’s only goal in the 82nd minutes, playing a through ball off the foot of Karina Chand. Helu muscled through two defenders, broke into the penalty area, and put it in the corner to set off a roar of celebration from San Mateo’s home crowd.

“We were so excited,” said Louisa Coughlin, San Mateo’s senior goalkeeper. “We all were just cheering and ran and hugged her.”

The score was Helu’s 21st on the season, which leads the team. The kid, freshman Shannon Lim, ranks second on the Bearcats with 19 goals on the year.

San Mateo (15-2-1) was playing at a disadvantage with two of its starting midfielders on the shelf. Sophomore midfielders Ren Delos Reyes and Alayna Jordan were both injured in the Bearcats’ final regular-season game, a 4-1 loss in non-league play Feb. 16 at Sequoia. Ten minutes into Saturday’s contest, San Mateo lost another sophomore midfielder when Chisa Matsumoto departed with an injury.

So, head coach Juan Mayora moved Lim from the front line to midfield to keep in check a Mustangs offense that has had trouble scoring goals this season. Other than a 3-1 win over last-place Watsonville Feb. 14 in Gabilan Division league play, Gilroy (9-7-3) hadn’t scored more than one goal in a game since the second week of January.

“I’d say the first half we were definitely a little bit more unorganized, but we realized that we really needed to pull it together in the second half.” Coughlin said.

Another lineup move Mayorga made paid dividends in the second half — but this lineup decision came at the outset of the year.

Entering the season, Helu had played predominantly as a defender in her club soccer career, according to Mayora. Senior Kayla Williams, on the other hand, played exclusively at forward for her club team, Mayora said. Not knowing this, Mayora unwittingly flip-flopped the two, with Helu manning the forward position and Williams playing defender.

“But the chemistry has been there, and it’s worked out fine,” Mayora said.

That’s for sure. The Bearcats finished the regular season as the Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division with an undefeated 8-0 record. Prior to this season, San Mateo hadn’t won a league game since January 2019 in PAL Ocean Division play. Last season in the abbreviated spring schedule, with just 14 players in the girls’ soccer program, San Mateo posted an 0-9 record.

“Well, you can’t compare (last year to this year) because last year I had a total of 14 girls come out for the team and only six played soccer,” Mayora said. “We didn’t win a game, and we didn’t score a goal.”

This year was a different story as San Mateo carried 21 players on its varsity roster and fielded a junior-varsity squad of 26 players.

“This season I didn’t know what to expect … and we had 72 players try out,” Mayora said.

With Saturday’s win, the Bearcats equal their deepest run into the postseason in program history. San Mateo will host No. 5 Pioneer in the semifinal round Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.