Girls' soccer: Long Beach Wilson named national champs
Long Beach Wilson Coach Jason Kirkwood was just informed by StudentSportsSoccer.com that Wilson is the publication's national girls' soccer champion.
The Bruins (28-1-5) won the inaugural Southern California Regional Division I final by beating Thousand Oaks, 3-0, at Downey High. Sam Baker, Emily Dillon and Samantha Prochnow scored.
The StudentSportsSoccer title may not be the only "mythical" national title Wilson wins this season. The Bruins were ranked No. 2 in the latest NSCAA/adidas national rankings. But the team that was No. 1, Allen of Allen, Texas, lost two weekends ago.
"I think this goes to show the hard work and dedication of our senior class," Kirkwood said. "We started the process four years ago" then they took their lumps in the playoffs and "we learned how to win. This year, with the leadership we had, and the talented sophomores and juniors that joined our team, everything came together."
-- Jaime Cardenas
-- Image from vivirlatino.com
The cool (and weird) thing about the condensed format of CIF state playoffs is exactly this scenario: two Saturdays ago Wilson wins its first ever CIF championship. Seven days later they've delivered the most decisive victory in the whole state playoffs, and they're crowned national champions. Must have been a hell of a week for those girls.
Posted by: mike guardabascio | March 10, 2008 at 02:48 PM