By Rebecca Hext
Staff Writer
After the Mira Costa girls soccer team began the season with a first place finish at the South High Holiday Tournament, the girls had high hopes for the rest of the winter season; however, they fell short of expectations in CIF by getting knocked out in the first round.
“Our team was very young this year so I am very proud of them,” head coach Patty Perkins said. “We had a great run and I know they played their hardest.”
Out of the 13 pre-season games that Costa competed in they managed to come out with only one loss, making their record 12-0-1. They beat out local schools such as South High, Chadwick, and Marymount who all have very strong records as well. In the South High Holiday Tournament sophomore Kimby Keever and sophomore Savannah Sartini led the team to victory with multiple goals each.
“They are really fast and good with tactical things like passing,” South High junior defender Charlie Tavormina said. “It was a good challenge for us to play them because they are such a strong team.”
The girls dominated the first half of season with high scoring games against Leuzinger and West Torrance, which ended 8-0 and 4-2 respectively. However, their losses against local schools Redondo Union High and Palos Verdes High cost them their first place spot in League. As the season went on the girls tried to regain their title but a 2-2 tie against Penninsula and a 2-2 tie against Palos Verdes High only ended up securing them a third place finish in Bay League behind Palos Verdes and Redondo Union.
“We left it all out on the field every single game,” junior Kirby Benson said. “We fought together and everyone had a great season.”
Costa girls made it into CIF and prepared to battle it out for their first game with Calabasas High School. The game began evenly matched and the shots on goal from both teams went back and forth. Finally, in the second half, sophomore Kimby Keever crossed the ball the junior Megan Mahoney who got Costa on the board with the Mustangs’ first goal. However, Calabasas came back with a goal, tying the game at 1-1.
“I saw Megan making a long run and she was in the perfect position to score,” sophomore Kimby Keever said. “I knew she would finish it somehow and she got it with her hip for a goal.”
For the majority of the second half the Costa girls were dominating the game. They took shot after shot on goal but couldn’t seem to finish any of them. Just as it began to look like the game would be sent into overtime, Calabasas scored a goal with only two minutes remaining. Costa couldn’t tie it up before the final whistle was blown and the game ended in a 2-1 loss for the Costa girls.
“We were such a cohesive unit and we worked hard for each other in that game,” junior Taylor Foland said. “We really dominated the game but couldn’t finish out chances.”
With CIF being single elimination, this loss knocked the girls out and there season was officially over. They ended with a record of 19-4-2 and plan to improve on that next year. As the majority of the team this season was composed of juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, the girls should have no problem maintain their success for years to come.
“It was such an amazing team this year and luckily we will have pretty much the same team next year,” sophomore Mandy Mckeegan said. “Our chemistry will continue to develop and hopefully we will accomplish even more next season.”
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