Soccer By Jaime

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First order of business, check out this Web site, it’s the inspiration for the cool title.

Anyways, let me recap the week that was in preps soccer (boys and girls) and give you a little taste of what’s still to come this week.

The week that was

In girls’ soccer, the top two teams, at least heading into last week, fell in the first day of the Excalibur Tournament. Esperanza (10-1-2) rebounded to win the consolation tournament, but Long Beach Wilson (12-1-3) lost again the next day and was eliminated.

The tournament somehow survived (relax, I’m being sarcastic). Los Alamitos (10-3-3), with a goal from freshman Shannelle Simien, beat Santa Margarita, 1-0, in the final. The Eagles (10-2-2) had seemed destined to win it all after eliminating Wilson in the first round and host Foothill in the semis.

Esperanza entered the week as the No. 1 in Orange County, but I think there’s a new No. 1 in the O.C.

In boys’ soccer, speaking of Wilson, the Bruins beat a solid Saddleback (9-1-1) squad, 2-1, to win the Mustang Cup. The tournament victory by the boys makes Wilson the best soccer school in the Southland right now, by far -- the girls’ program has already won two tournaments and were thinking treble before being upset in the first round of the Excalibur.

What’s next

Many games are going on this week, many good matchups as well, but the major event is the boys’ West Coast Classic tournament at Irvine Valley College - which started on Wednesday. Last year, the tournament’s winner, Canoga Park, finished with an undefeated season and top national rankings.

Last year the WCC was held immediately after Christmas, along with a bunch of other tournaments. That made it difficult to cover all of them. Another reporter seems to think that the change in the start of the tournament is a good thing, as he can now cover more tournaments, and that the tournament organizers should keep it as a post-New Year’s tournament. I don’t agree.

Because of the change teams like St. Francis and Loyola (a four-time participant, a previous tournament champion and a defending Southern Section Division-I co-champion) are not participating this week. The tournament dates conflict with their league games. Both the Cubs (6-1-4) and the Friars (11-4) are off to good starts and it would have been great to see them in the WCC.

The championship game of the WCC will take place on Saturday at Irvine Valley College. I’ll be blogging throughout the week from the tournament.

Looking ahead

Next week, St. Francis host Loyola on Wednesday in a Mission League game. Even though the two will tango again in the final week of January, this is still a very important meeting.

-- Jaime Cardenas

P.S. If you got this far, thanks for reading. You obviously love soccer as much as I do.

-- Image from users.wpi.edu