GIRLS’ SOCCER

As expected, South Coast League champion Capistrano Valley is top-seeded in the Division I girls’ soccer playoffs, but being the best didn’t give the Cougars any of the expected perks.

The Cougars (21-0-4) will have to play their best to make it past the quarterfinals, because four of the county’s top 10 teams are in the same region. In the first round, Capistrano Valley will face the winner of Cerritos-Long Beach Wilson. After that, the Cougars could face No. 6 Los Alamitos in the second round, and probably No. 3 Edison or No. 7 Esperanza in the quarterfinals. The semifinals, if they make it that far, should be easier.

“Right now our region is the toughest,” Cougar Coach Jack Peterson said, “but we knew this would happen with regionalization. And in the long run, it will be good for us to play harder and harder games, but it would be nice to have an early ‘gimme.’ ”

Mission Viejo (16-3-4), third in Division I, moves out of the region. Unfortunately for the Diablos, they move to the second-toughest region with Upland (24-2-3) and Claremont (19-3-2). But an eventual final with Capistrano Valley is possible, even if not probable.

The only other county team to be seeded is Mater Dei (14-3-3). The fourth-seeded Monarchs will play in region IV against teams from Ventura County, hosting the winner of Canyon Country Canyon-Moorpark in the first round.