East County girls 2-1 in first round of playoffs

By Matt Schwab Correspondent

East County girls soccer teams had a 2-1 record against East Bay Athletic League opponents in the first round of the North Coast Section Division I playoffs last week.

Heritage, seeded 14th, rallied to beat No. 3 Amador Valley 2-1 in Pleasanton, on goals from Leah Guerrero and Macie Jarquin as the Patriots earned a trip to the NCS quarterfinals for the third consecutive time.

Freedom, the unbeaten BVAL champion and No. 8 seed, played inspired soccer in a 2-1 win over visiting No. 9 Foothill on a goal by freshman defender Mariann Romero in sudden-death overtime.

Liberty, seeded 15th, received a tough draw and lost to No. 2 San Ramon Valley 3-0 in the first round in Danville. So, it was a heady opening night for East County squads.

“Hats off to Heritage and Freedom who both won (in the first round),” Liberty coach Nikki Toeaina said of the BVAL’s show of force. “… I think that’s great to see Freedom and Heritage go on to the quarterfinals.”

However, the Patriots and Falcons ran into tough opponents in Saturday’s NCS quarterfinals. No. 1 seed and defending champion Carondelet beat Freedom 5-0, and No. 6 California bested the Patriots 2-0, to end their seasons.

On Freedom’s winning goal against Foothill in the first overtime period, Romero launched a free kick of 20-25 yards over the keeper’s head into the net to touch off a celebration.

“She just dropped it in far post … It was nice,” Freedom head coach Matt Oliveri recalled.

Oliveri was thrilled with the effort in an all-Falcons battle.

“The EBAL always gets a lot of respect, so it’s kind of good we beat a team from a top league like that,” he said. “Our little schools out here, people don’t always give us the credit, so it’s always good to beat a bigger school like that, especially in the playoffs and having a home game.”

Here’s a look at the local teams: FREEDOM (13-3-3, 8-0-2): The accomplishments came in bunches for the Falcons this season … first BVAL championship since 2012 … unbeaten in league (8-0-2) … first home playoff game since 2012 … first home playoff win since 2012 … back-toback wins over Liberty and Heritage.

What’s the secret sauce? Team unity has been key, the coach said..

“They spend a lot of time together, a lot of team dinners and stuff,” Oliveri says of his players. “They’re just really close, they’re really tight as a team and that helps our play on the field as well.”

Against Foothill, Freedom went up 1-0 on a goal by senior scoring leader Carly Singleton, but Freedom missed a penalty kick, and Foothill tied it to force overtime. That set the stage for Romero.

Singleton and freshman Eliana Lawrence led the offense in scoring overall, but the adage “defense wins championships” fit with Freedom. The back line of Alexa Rodriguez, Romero, Brooklyn Pierce and Gabby Mendez, along with keeper Lauren Zamora, has been stout.

“Our defense really leads the way. They don’t really get the credit as the defenders because everybody looks at the midfielders and forwards as the goal scorers, but our back four with our goalie, they’ve come up big for us the whole year.”

HERITAGE (8-6-3, 7-1-2): The Patriots, who qualified for NCS for the 13th consecutive season, finished league play with a 1-0 win over rival Liberty. Jaelina Hernandez scored the game winner, and keeper Isabella Geloa posted a shutout. Next came the victory over Amador Valley, an opportunistic effort for the Patriots.

After playing a demanding non-league schedule, the Patriots really got rolling in the second half of the season, winning six in a row before the loss to California in the playoffs.

Jasmine Staples, Isabella Tognolini and Karlee Lywandowski were key scoring threats.

LIBERTY (8-8-3, 6-2-2): Second-year head coach Nikki Toeaina says the team had moments when it played “great soccer, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Toward the end of the season, Toeaina saw progress in key aspects of the Lions’ play.

Senior captain Jadynn King played a go-to role all season, including scoring a big late goal in a 1-0 non-league win over Berkeley, which helped secure an NCS berth.

“She’s just a great example through her work ethic in training, and in games she just goes all out every time she puts her feet to the field. She gets after it,” the coach said of King.

Junior striker Payton Hoover, who was lost to an ankle injury late in the season — a blow to Liberty’s chances against Heritage, Freedom, and San Ramon Valley — and speedy, versatile sophomore Selah Simms were standouts.

The Lions (8-8-3), two-time NCS Division I soccer champions, in 2015 and 2017, always challenge themselves against a schedule of winning teams.

“We go out there to play the best, we seek to play the best, and every team that was a non-league game, all of those teams made it to NCS,” the coach said. “… Nothing is easy. We never want to make it easy for our players.”

Toeaina is a former assistant at Liberty under successful head coach Tony Martins. She considers Martins a “great mentor as a coach. I learned a lot from him.”

But Martins remains connected to the program. His daughter, Karly, is a freshman on the Liberty team who fought off ankle and back injuries to contribute as a starter down the stretch.