Girls’ Soccer Preview: Returning talent looks to lead Flintridge Sacred Heart, Crescenta Valley, Flintridge Prep back to playoffs

Postseason berths and playoff success were hard to come by a season ago as it related to local girls’ soccer.

Only three teams made the postseason dance, with Crescenta Valley High tallying the lone victory and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy matching the Falcons for the best league finish with a second-place mark.

However, for the three teams that made the playoffs, plenty of talent returns, led by the Tologs, who have myriad All-Area returners, including 2014 All-Area Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year Lauren Savo.

Following a fifth-place finish in the Mission League in which it failed to make the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs in 2014, the Tologs welcomed back program architects Kathy Desmond and Frank Pace.

The sidekicks, who piloted the program to the greatest girls’ soccer season in area chronicle in 2011 when the Tologs won the Southern Section Division I crown, got Flintridge Sacred Heart back to the playoffs following a one-year hiatus. Flintridge Sacred Heart, which went 10-6-5, 4-2-2 in league, lost to Los Osos, 1-0, on a penalty kick in overtime of the first round of Division I tournament play.

But Pace and Desmond have stepped away yet again and Mark Snashall has taken over the coaching reins.

“We’ve got a solid team this year. We’ve got some great kids,” said the 49-year-old Snashall, who played and coached soccer in England and has high school coaching experience in the St. Francis and Mayfield programs. “Our concern this year is putting the ball in the back of the net. We’re not going to concede many, but we’re going to have to work to score some. But we should have a pretty good season.”

In addition to Savo, a senior defender, the Tologs have five more All-Area returners — sophomore goalie Mattie Interian (0.70 goals-against average, seven shutouts last season), senior defender Heather Turcios (team-highs of six goals, six assists), junior forward Nia Harris (five goals, four assists), junior midfielder Sophia Saldivar (three goals, two assists) and sophomore forward Amethyst Trang (five goals, four assists).

Thus, Snashall has high hopes for the Tologs, starting with a game-by-game, win-by-win approach that he believes can lead to league and playoff success.

“We want to win every game and we want to finish first,” said Snashall, who also expects senior Lindsey Pierson to be an impact player as the Tologs look to unseed reigning Mission League champion Harvard-Westlake, which has a 20-match league unbeaten streak and has won four straight league crowns. “We’ve got enough talent.”

The biggest quandary will be offense, as the Tologs were shut out seven times last season, including their final two games of the season.

“We’re gonna create chances, it’s just about finishing,” Snashall said.

While offense wasn’t exactly Crescenta Valley’s strength last season, finishing strong was, as the Falcons were winless over their first six matches of the season, but won seven of their last nine, tying for second in the Pacific League and advancing to the Division IV second round in the process. Their two losses were to Pacific League champion Arcadia, a CIF quarterfinalist, and La Mirada, the eventual division champion.

So, prospects are high for this season’s flock.

“I’m excited about this year,” said Falcons Coach Tyraysha Peterson, whose team went 12-8-1, 11-3 in league last season. “We’ve got a good vibe on this team. We’ve got some good seniors.”

The Falcons lost, arguably, their top player in All-Area first-teamer Grace Keller, but still return two All-Area talents in senior defender Natalia Victoria and junior goalkeeper Sydney Schoeller. Decorated senior defender Lauren Cota is also back, as is senior forward/defender Rachel Bird from injury.

So, defense will once again be the strength along with experience, but Peterson believes some youthful additions could provide some offensive punch.

“We’ve got some dynamic people coming in,” said Peterson, whose Falcons opened the playoffs with a 3-2 win over Oak Hills before falling against La Mirada. “We’ve got some little baby freshmen that I think are going to do some things up top.”

On top of the league standings for the last four seasons has been Arcadia, which carries a 36-match league winning streak into the season since losing to Burroughs on Jan. 16, 2013. Peterson is hoping to change that.

“We’d like to beat Arcadia if we can, this year,” Peterson said. “That’s kind of the priority. It’d be nice to put in a couple against them.”

Flintridge Prep Coach Esteban Chavez should have a very familiar lineup as he did not graduate anyone from a Rebels team that didn’t have a senior last season as it went 12-11-2 and 5-4-1 for third place in the Prep League before losing to Cypress, the Division III runner-up, in the first round of the playoffs.

“It’s still more of the same,” said Chavez of his team being a younger squad. “We’ll see how committed these girls are to the program.”

Chavez, whose program had four players running cross-country, has four returning All-Area players in senior midfielder Katherine Pinney (14 goals, seven assists), sophomore forward Julia Gonzalez (14 goals), sophomore forward Mona Cesario (six goals, two assists) and junior midfielder Jillian Brady (seven goals, five assists). Junior defender Hannah Barakat should lead a defense dealing with the only significant loss, as goalie Lauren Stiles did not return. Stiles split time last season with sophomore Lindsay Uteda, who now has the starting reins to herself.

Chavez expects Pasadena Poly, Chadwick and Westridge to all be players in the Prep League. Poly is the three-time reigning league champion with a 33-match unbeaten streak.

“Our goal is to contend again and go to the playoffs,” Chavez said.

Back in the Pacific League, Hoover improved its record from the season prior each of the previous three seasons under Anastasios “Ace” Metallinos, culminating with last season’s 7-15-2 overall mark that came with a 4-8-2 showing in league that was good for fifth place.

Metallinos has moved on to coach the Tornadoes’ boys’ team, though, and assistant Sarah Strange has moved into the head role for Hoover with aspirations of continuing the program’s steady improvement.

“We’ve been building the program,” said Strange, 40, who teaches at Toll Middle School. “This year, I actually had to cut about 10 players.”

Numbers are seemingly healthier than ever for the Tornadoes, as Strange has eight varsity returners on an 18-player roster, including junior midfielder/forward Remi Miller and junior sweeper Mary Deyell. Sophomore goalkeeper Jazmine Martinez looks to also be a positive addition up from junior varsity.

They’ll try to overcome the graduation of first-team All-Area pick Jordan Miller, Remi’s older sister. But it was Remi who was the team’s leading scorer with 15 goals and three assists.

“We do expect good things for her,” Strange said of Remi, a reigning All-Area selection.

Strange also expects good things from Hoover, but more than anything wants to maintain the team’s steady improvement.

“The next few years look promising in terms of continuing to build,” Strange said. “We should be getting better every year.”

Victor Aquino returns to lead Glendale, which went 3-12-3, 3-8-3 for sixth place in the Pacific League a season ago.

Keyed by its team captains, senior defender Rachel Harmon and senior midfielder Destiny Brandsetter, Glendale’s aspirations for the season are clear and obvious.

“I expect to win a lot more games than we did last season and get to the playoffs,” said Aquino, who has nine seniors on his 19-player roster. “We have a good core coming back and they have a lot more experience.”

Holy Family went winless in the Horizon League last season and now turns to new coach Julia Hankins.

St. Monica Academy, which moved from Pasadena to Montrose in the summer, will be participating in its first season and will look to leadership from coach Ed Salazar.