3-A GIRLS : Mater Dei Shuts Out Santa Barbara

The Mater Dei High School girls’ soccer team accomplished plenty on Saturday with its 2-0 victory over Santa Barbara for the 3-A championship at Gahr High School.

* The Monarchs gave the school its first Southern Section title in a girls’ sport.

* They gave a proper send-off to Marty Breen, who announced Saturday that he will step down as head coach after 11 years at Mater Dei, the past four as the girls’ coach.

* They set a school record for shutouts in a season--20--which ties Agoura as the second-best mark in Southern Section history; Laguna Hills recorded 23 in 1986-87.

But what really seemed to make the Monarchs’ day was a quick, postgame announcement by Breen.

“OK, everyone is to meet Monday at 3 p.m. at Mater Dei,” he said. “I’ll need you to turn in your uniforms . . . but you can keep the sweats.”

Judging by the players’ reaction--a near-deafening team scream--the sweats must be as important as the championship plaque that they took turns holding.

“I couldn’t feel any better,” Kari Marshall said. “No way could you ever have a better ending to your senior year than this.”

Saturday’s match seemed over after the first half, if not sooner. The Monarchs (23-2-2) dominated Santa Barbara in nearly every aspect of the game, and got goals from Susan Steiner and Robyn Camarillo.

Mater Dei outshot Santa Barbara, 8-2, in the first half and 15-7 for the game.

“When you come into (the Southern Section title game), you hear all this hype about the team you’re going to play,” said Camarillo, who assisted on Steiner’s goal. “I think when we got out there, it was kind of a letdown.”

Many of the Monarchs said that the intensity of Saturday’s match did not compare to their semifinal match Tuesday against Canyon. Mater Dei won that game, 1-0, in sudden-death overtime.

“Yeah, we came here expecting the best,” Marshall said. “We’re kind of glad it turned out this way, I guess.”

Santa Barbara (24-2-2), which lost just one game in the regular season--to Thousand Oaks--seemed to have trouble keeping any momentum going. In contrast to Mater Dei’s excellent passing and trapping skills, the Dons utilized a long-passing approach. It didn’t get them very far, not with the Monarchs’ stellar defense.

“They were pretty much the most aggressive team we’ve played this year,” Santa Barbara’s Maria Guerrero said.