Menlo Vaults Into CCS Div 3 Championship

On the evening of leap day, the No. 4 seed Menlo School girls' soccer team vaulted into the Central Coast Section Div III championship with an upset of top seed Scotts Valley at Valley Christian-San Jose on Wednesday.

In a battle of league champions, Menlo School of the West Bay Athletic League-Foothill (14-4-3) outplayed the Falcons of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League (13-5-4) to earn a trip to the CCS Championship on Saturday, March 4 at 3 p.m. vs. second-seeded Santa Cruz (14-4-3) at Valley Christian-San Jose.
Santa Cruz earned its spot by defeating SHP 3-0 at Gilroy.

Last time both teams faced each other was two years ago in a thrilling quarterfinals which the Cardinals won 2-0 in OT and went on to win the championship vs. Scotts Valley.

On Wednesday, sophomore Jaye Boissiere scored the winning goal on a penalty kick in the 61st minute after fellow sophomore Chandler Wickers got fouled inside the 18-yard box. 

The defense again was solid, led by senior Shannon Lacy and junior Hannah Rubin along with sophomore Sienna Stritter and freshman Alexandra Walker.

The Knights junior goalkeepers Julia Dressel and Kelly McConnell again chalked up another shutout with a key save by McConnell in the final ticks of the clock when the Falcons had a long throw-in to bounce a couple of times in front of the goal. The Knights had six shots on goal vs. 0 for the Falcons.

Menlo 0-1-1
Scotts Valley 0-0-0

Boissiere

Records

Menlo 14-4-3

Scotts Valley 13-5-4

Jorge Chen