Flintridge Prep, Flintridge Sacred Heart, Glendale earn All-CIF accolades
A dominant season for the Flintridge Prep girls’ soccer team netted the squad a slew of awards when the CIF Southern Section released its All-CIF awards Monday.
Rebels senior forward Julia Gonzalez was named the Division III Player of the Year, Esteban Chavez was voted the coach of the year and Flintridge Prep earned four additional first-team selections. In addition, Mission League champion Flintridge Sacred Heart picked up a Division II accolade as did surging Glendale High in Division V.
“I’m proud of the award and I think it’s a great way to finish my high school career,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve worked so hard these past four years and to get recognized for that is special.”
Gonzalez, who’s heading to UC Irvine in the fall, turned in a stellar season with 50 goals and 16 assists, which is believed to be an area record for goals. Earlier, she was named the Prep League Offensive Player of the Year.
Gonzalez’s 116-point tally was best in California and placed her in the top five in the nation, according to maxpreps.com.
“I’ve been thinking about the scoring a lot and, really, this was about the team getting better as a whole,” Gonzalez said. “It was their support helping me and getting me great assists.”
Gonzalez was a key figure on a dynamic team. The Rebels finished 26-5-2, went undefeated (10-0) in winning a Prep League title, captured the program’s first CIF Southern Section Division III championship and finished runner-up at the CIF Southern California Division III Regional Championships.
A wonderful run included coach of the year honors for Chavez.
“Honestly, you get this award because the team wins a CIF championship, so my coach of the year award is really an accomplishment for the girls,” Chavez said. “But, it is an honor to win this and I’ve never won this before.
“This season has been super-fulfilling in all aspects. One, I enjoyed seeing the development of the players as soccer players, then as human beings and lastly the winning. This is all so fulfilling.”
Rebels junior forward Helen Schaefer, junior defender Caitlin Fong, junior midfielder Mika Celeste and freshman forward Makenna Dominguez were named to the Division III first team. Tologs senior midfielder Amethyst Trang was named to the Division II squad and Nitros senior midfielder Rita Grigorian garnered Division V recognition.
Schaefer missed 12 matches due to injury, but still turned in a phenomenal season with 35 goals and 28 assists.
“You look at the numbers she put up this season and that’s after missing the beginning of the year,” Chavez said. “She came in and didn’t skip a beat. She was an MVP candidate and just a great individual and leader.”
Fong was an adept defender who often led the charge on offense and tallied six goals and 20 assists.
“Her improvement was drastic and her physicality from last year to this was unmatched,” Chavez said. “She brought a lot offensively and you don’t see an outside defender give so much to the offense. Just look at the numbers she put up.”
Celeste was a surprisingly underrated player given her numbers as the junior midfielder finished with 23 goals and a state-leading 30 assists. The standout, however, didn’t make the Prep League first team.
“The turnaround with her was big,” Chavez said. “She won balls in the air, she wasn’t afraid of tackling and her impact was big. Show me any other player in the area who did what she did.”
Dominguez was somewhat of a surprise addition to the squad as Chavez wasn’t sure the U.S. Soccer Academy talent would play at the high school level. Dominguez was unstoppable this season, as the freshman totaled 28 goals and 24 assists.
“You can see that she had talent, but she struggled early on with her work and soccer IQ,” Chavez said. “After about 15 games and 40 practices, she just got that much better. Maybe the best thing I can say about her is that she’s coachable. You don’t find players with her talent that want to listen.”
Flintridge Prep earned three All-CIF second-team selections in senior midfielder Mona Cesario (11 assists and three goals), senior goalie Lindsey Uteda (13 shutouts and a .821 goals-against average) and junior defender Yasmeen White (one goal and one assist).
Winning wasn’t contained to Flintridge Prep, as Flintridge Sacred Heart enjoyed its own share of success as Trang was named to the Division II first team.
Trang tallied eight goals and three assists in winning the Mission League Most Valuable Player, all while propelling her squad to a 10-5-5 record and its first league title since 2011.
Like Gonzalez, Trang will be heading to UC Irvine.
“It’s cool and it means a lot to see Amethyst get the recognition,” Flintridge Sacred Heart coach Mark Snashall said. “She works hard and I’m very happy for her. She deserves everything she gets.”
The theme of success continued for Glendale High, which enjoyed arguably its greatest year thanks in part to the exploits of Grigorian.
The senior was earlier named the Pacific League Most Valuable Player of the Year – her school’s first such accolade since 2008 – after leading her squad with nine goals.
Grigorian added another rare honor when she was named to the Division V first team.
“I don’t even remember the last time we’ve had someone on All-CIF. It’s big for her and for us and hopefully it shows that our program is growing. I can’t say this award is a surprise because she’s so good with the ball, both technically and with the field,” Nitros coach Victor Aquino said. “She plays club, is a representative for the Armenian national team and I knew since her freshman year that she’d be our MVP her senior year. I said it at the banquet.”
Glendale finished 9-9-3, took fourth in league and picked up a postseason win.
