By Camille Juton
Staff Writer
With the CIF semifinals on the line, the Mira Costa girls soccer team played their last match of the season against Harvard Westlake, losing 1-0 in the quarterfinals.
After a long season, in which the Costa girls were tied for first place in the Bay League, their run in CIF has come to an end.
“It was a great last match,” senior Kirby Benson said. “It sucks that we lost but this is one of the years we have gone the farthest in CIF and we have a lot to be proud of as a team.”
Throughout the first half of the match no one on either team was able to score. The Costa girls had a lot of shots on goal but were not able to make it past Harvard Westlake’s goalkeeper. The ball remained on Westlake’s side of the field for the majority of the first half.
“We were dominating the first half but we could never follow through with our shots ,” senior co-captain Kara Enomoto said. “Although we had a lot of ball control in the beginning, we started playing kickball towards the end of the first half.”
Right at the start of the second half, Harvard Westlake was able to score from a corner kick. Costa kept having shots on goal.
“After they scored we started freaking out,” senior co-captain Melina Cohen said. “They had a lot of shots on goal and so did we, but they never went in for either teams.”
Even though the girls’ season came to an end, one of the girls most important games was against Palos Verdes High School because it was the team’s last Bay League. The game ended in a win giving the girls a share of first place in the Bay League.
“Palos Verdes is known to be really good at soccer and one of our biggest rivals,” Benson said. “Beating them in a crucial Bay League match was one of the most rewarding feelings ever.”
Another significant match in the girls season was a 1-0 loss against Peninsula High School. The loss tied Mira Costa with Peninsula and Redondo High Schools for first place in the Bay League.
“We battled hard,” senior fullback Kara Enomoto said. “With four players injured, we had a hard time finding an offense. Peninsula also outplayed us.”
The girls last home game of the season was against Redondo Union High School. The girls tied them 2-2. The two goals were scored by junior Mandy McKeegan and senior Kirby Benson and the team had overall great ball control and defense throughout the whole match.
“As my last home game for my whole high school soccer career its a great feeling knowing we played our hardest and were able to tie against Redondo on our own field,” Benson said. “Overall we had a great season with some surprising wins and tragic losses but from my point of view we improved as a team in many ways this season and I can’t wait to see how the girls do next year.”
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