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By all accounts and purposes, the 2017-2018 season should have signaled a step back for the St. Ignatius boys’ soccer program, after graduating virtually every threat from the team which captured the 2016-2017 CCS Open Division title.
Instead, the Wildcats turned to another cast of standouts and garnered a reputation for playing as a team, a cohesive unit which not only captured another West Catholic Athletic League title, but then went on to add the CCS Open Division title and the first-ever CIF NorCal Division I championship, beating Montgomery-Santa Rosa for the regional crown.
What became obvious over the course of the season was the depth of the program which is led by head coach Alan Downey. With a pretty even blend of seniors and underclassmen, St. Ignatius began the year with a challenging non-league schedule, one which included North Bay power Marin Academy and Sac-Joaquin power Napa. Through it all, the Wildcats emerged unscathed, and then reeled off wins in six of their first seven WCAL matches, a 1-1 draw against Mitty being the only slight blemish during a strong start to league play.
Early February brought the only loss which the team would encounter, a 1-0 setback to Valley Christian, but all that did was trigger a string of nine straight victories, a run which sealed a league title and led to unprecedented post-season success.
The Wildcats sealed the league title with a 1-0 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral on February 15, downing the eventual CCS Division II champions to edge Mitty for the crown. From there was a dominant run in the first two rounds of the section playoffs, blanking both BVAL-Mount Hamilton champion Overfelt and SCVAL-De Anza champion Los Gatos to advance to another Open Division title game. There, the Wildcats’ defense made sure that David Woodruff’s 35-yard goal just before halftime stood up as the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Burlingame. The Panthers had been explosive offensively all season, but SI’s defense and strategy to bracket PAL-Bay MVP Gabe Hyman denied them any good looks, with the lone goal coming off a long ball.
“This was a defensively disciplined and organized group of players,” Downey said. “They always found a way to win, and their confidence continued to grow as the year went on.”
Opposed to other seasons, the Wildcats earned the right to advance to the first-ever NorCal playoffs, and after being placed in the Division I field, faced the same Marin Academy which they had played to a 2-2 draw in the early non-league meeting. MA standout Stefan Jung scored twice in the first meeting, but just like they had done to Hyman in the CCS final, St. Ignatius refused to let Jung be a difference maker, and the end result was a 1-0 victory in overtime. Most impressive, though, was what came next, a 1-0 victory over Folsom in the regional semifinals, after the Bulldogs had scored 82 goals during the season, including four in a regional quarterfinal win over Los Gatos.
Facing NCS Division II champion Montgomery – who had just eliminated Burlingame in the regional semifinals – St. Ignatius capped a memorable run for Downey and its graduating senior class, beating the Vikings 3-2 in the CIF NorCal championship game to lay an outright claim as the top boys’ soccer program in Northern California, and finished the year with a top three ranking nationally.
“Becoming the first team ever to win a NorCal title, that’s something that can never be taken away from us,” Downey added.
For their efforts throughout the season, we are pleased to recognize St. Ignatius soccer as the Prep2Prep Northern California Male Team of the Year.
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After falling to St. Mary’s-Stockton in the 2016 SJS Division I title game, the Bulldogs were hungry to avenge themselves in 2017. They accomplished that goal, and then some, dominating all comers to finish with a perfect 16-0 record, including the SJS Division I title, and a victory over Helix-La Mesa in the CIF 1-AA title game.
Moving up from the PAL-Ocean to the PAL-Bay, the Cougars passed the new challenge with flying colors, going unbeaten in the regular season, and then winning the CCS Open III title, with gave Half Moon Bay its first-ever berth in the CIF bowl series. The Cougars then beat Sutter in the CIF 3-A North final before falling by two points to Steele Canyon in the state final.
Not a single opponent was able to stay within single digits of the Warriors last fall, as they went 14-0, easily won the OAL title, and then cruised past both East Nicolaus and Golden West-Visalia to capture the CIF 5-AA title. McClymonds has won 25 straight games, and is 39-2 over the last three years, including a pair of state titles.
It was a spring to remember for the Matadors, who captured the SCVAL-De Anza title, and then shook off a loss to Bellarmine in the CCS Division I title game, defeating Whitney-Rocklin, Bellarmine, and Clovis to capture the CIF NorCal Division I championship. Along the way, they won their own tournament, and reached the championship match of the Best of the West Tournament, defeating eventual CIF SoCal Division I champion Corona del Mar in the process.
After playing a loaded non-league schedule, the Huskies went unbeaten in the Delta League before falling to Modesto Christian in the SJS Division I title game. Sheldon, however, put together another run before the season was over, defeating San Joaquin Memorial, Folsom, and Bishop O’Dowd to capture the CIF NorCal Open Division title and reach the CIF final against Sierra Canyon.
The champions out of the Monticello Empire League put together an improbable post-season run. After eliminating three-time defending SJS Division I champion Elk Grove in the quarterfinals, the Bulldogs fell to Davis in the semifinals of the double elimination portion of the tournament. Vacaville battled back, however, defeating Franklin-Elk Grove and Jesuit squads which had each beaten them earlier in the year, to earn a rematch against Davis, needing to win two straight against a team which had already beaten them twice in the year.
The Bulldogs won the first game handily, 11-4, before stunning Davis with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 7-6 victory in the winner-take-all final.
The Warriors carried lofty expectations into the 2018 campaign, and lived up to billing, bringing home some hardware in the process. Valley Christian went 29-3 for the season, winning the Hard 9 National Classic, the WCAL tournament, and then defeating Los Gatos, 4-3, to capture the CCS Open Division title and finish the season as the top-ranked team in the state.
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