Doesn't Get Any Better Than This...Eagles Win State!

First, they were the best in the league. Then they were the best in their division. Now, they are the best in the State.

On a day when skies were the color of hammered lead and rain never really stopped, a week after winning their first CIF­SS title, the Eagles of South El Monte High School Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team used their tenacity and great defense to hold off the Desert Mirage High School Rams and win the 2019 CIF Southern California Regional Girls Soccer Championships in Division 5 – the first in school history.

In the age of immediate gratification, the hardest part of watching soccer is understanding the incredible amount of patience and discipline it takes to score a goal. Desert Mirage came into Gabrielino High School – a neutral site – scoring a combined nine goals in their previous two matches through the tournament.

The game was not settled by attrition in overtime or through the intense one­on­one drama of penalty kicks. It was a quick score by Eagle’s by senior defender Makayla Cordova just 30 seconds into the game, ball

control by the Rams for 10 minutes, then a penalty kick by sophomore striker Yisel Ybarra to tie the game 1­ 1.

When asked about the team’s performance, Cordova said “Honestly we started to change once we began to believe in each other. Once we did that, we were able to work off each other and build momentum…once everyone came together as a team, we were unstoppable. “

With nine minutes remaining in the first half, sophomore forward Heather Gomez sent a cross pass from the left corner of the pitch to the box where it was redirected in to the goal by Cordova, scoring her second goal of the game and putting the Eagles ahead for good 2­1.

“After the second round in cif we were hesitant going into it. I didn't think we would make it this far. But after winning that game I knew we had a shot at this. Going into the Semis that's when we believed we could win the whole thing whole thing.” Gomez said of the teams Championship run.

In the second half, the Eagles lock down defense took over and one goal was all the Rams would manage. Coach Alex Rosales had this to say about his defense, “Alejandra Sanchez in goal gave everyone security and defenders knew that if they got beat Alejandra had their back. The fact that we only got scored

twice against in playoffs and both coming off a penalty shot shows how well we play defensively.”

In an interview with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune after the game, Desert Mirage Coach Jose Chavez indicated mentioned travel as a factor “The girls showed fatigue. We had never been at this level, this far, and I knew coming here, the drive, it was going to be a factor and it showed.”

Whether it was the weather, or the three­hour drive from Thermal, there was no doubt the difference was goal keeper Alejandra Sanchez and her

defense that allowed only two goals on penalty kicks throughout this run to the championship.

Today, in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, the heartbeat of the community belongs to the South El Monte Eagles and doesn’t get any better than this. Congratulations to the Eagles of South El Monte High School from the MID VALLEY NEWS for winning the 2019 CIF Southern California Regional Girls Soccer Championships