Trio of local girls’ soccer teams receive playoff nods
It’s been a remarkable season thus far for the Flintridge Prep girls’ soccer team.
With a squad filled mostly of sophomores and juniors, Flintridge Prep put together a nice balance of offense and defense to win the Prep League championship outright for the first time since 2012.
Now the stakes will be higher for Flintridge Prep, which will look to carry its wave of momentum into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
Flintridge Prep, along with Crescenta Valley and St. Monica Academy, will participate in the postseason after the CIF office released its pairings for all seven divisions Monday.
Flintridge Prep (19-3-3) will face Paramount (10-7-1) in a Division III first-round match at 3 p.m. Friday. Crescenta Valley (14-4-1) will travel to Royal (15-5-2) in a Division III opening-round match at 3 or 5 on Friday. St. Monica (7-5-2) will play a Division VII wild-card home match against Wildwood (7-6-3) at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Glendale Sports Complex. The home team has the choice of a 3 or 5 starting time.
Flintridge Prep, which split the league championship last season with rival Pasadena Poly and reached the second round of the playoffs, hasn’t given up a goal in its last five contests. In that span, the Rebels have scored 34 goals.
“We feel good about the matchup, but we’re definitely not overconfident,” Flintridge Prep Coach Esteban Chavez said. “We’ve been on a good run and we’re at home.
“We have an opportunity to make a long run. We know there are so many good teams in the division. Paramount plays in a good division with Downey and Warren and they are pretty much always in the playoffs and they have experience.”
Paramount took third in the Southwestern League.
The winner of the Flintridge Prep-Paramount match will take on San Marcos or La Salle in a second-round match Feb. 21.
Like Flintridge Prep, Crescenta Valley will seek to make a long run in the division. The Falcons lost to Alemany in the first round last season.
Crescenta Valley took second in the Pacific League behind Arcadia. The Falcons went 4-1-1 in their last six matches, giving them confidence heading to Ventura County.
“We like the way we’ve been playing, especially with how we did in league,” Crescenta Valley Coach Tyraysha Peterson said. “I don’t know anything about Royal, other than its record.
“We feel positive because we had some big wins outside of league, including a win against Saugus. I think our players feel good about where they are.”
Royal finished second in the Coastal Canyon League behind Moorpark.
The Crescenta Valley-Royal winner will meet Serrano or Knight in the second round.
St. Monica will be the first local team to begin the playoffs. The Crusaders took third in the Heritage League, while Wildwood finished fourth in the Coastal League.
The winner will travel to face top-seeded San Gabriel Mission, which won the Horizon League title, in a first-round match Thursday.
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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
