By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor When the CIF-Southern Section offices released the girls playoff brackets, Pasadena was probably the happiest team to find out they had gotten an at-large bid, and Flintridge Prep was likely the most disappointed when they realized their season was over. Pasadena (14-9) will travel to San Marino (18-11), a team […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
When the CIF-Southern Section offices released the girls playoff brackets, Pasadena was probably the happiest team to find out they had gotten an at-large bid, and Flintridge Prep was likely the most disappointed when they realized their season was over.
Pasadena (14-9) will travel to San Marino (18-11), a team they’ve beaten early in the year on Saturday night at 7 in a wild-card match in the CIF-SS Division 4 bracket.
La Salle, the Division 3 top seed earned a first-round bye after a perfect 8-0 Del Rey League run, and they will host the Arcadia-Monrovia winner.
The Lancers first match won’t be until Thursday night and it gives them a chance to scout the Apaches and Wildcats.
Prep League champion Westridge (21-4) will host Cajon (13-13) on Tuesday night at 5:30.
The Tigers just wrapped up their first outright league championship since 2006 and did so without a blemish, going 12-0.
Flintridge Sacred Heart (20-13) got into thanks to an impressive overall schedule and how well they did outside the Mission League, especially of late.
The Tologs will travel to Redondo Union (31-4) on Tuesday.
Poly (21-4), which finished second in the Prep League, earned a first-round match with Camarillo (13-15).
The Panthers’ only two league losses were to Westridge and they are as balanced as they’ve been in a long time.
Mayfield (11-13) will travel to Cypress (15-5) on Tuesday, as the Cubs earned a playoff berth with their third-place showing in the Prep League behind Westridge and Poly.
First-year coach Cami Martin has her girls excited for the postseason experience.
Quotable:
La Salle coach Tiare Tuitama: “We accomplished what we wanted to do in league and we look forward to this new season that’s going to start next Thursday. The girls are excited for playoffs. This year, we are truly taking it one game at a time, and really trying to prepare ourselves through practice and game-like situations. The girls that were on varsity last year are hungry and looking forward to moving past the second round. We’re ready to fight for every point and every game.”
Westridge coach Otto Lacayo: “We have a tough road to get to the end of that bracket. I like our chances, but I know every match will be a grind. There isn’t one team you could look past. The best thing we could do is take it one match at a time and trust in our girls to follow each unique game plan.”
FSHA coach Trent Tcheng: “Every single team in Division 1 is going to be tough. These teams are in D1 for a reason. As a staff and a program, we knew this year was going to be extremely tough having to replace 95% of our offense from last year, especially when Ellis went down in July. Whether we have Ellis or Kayla or both, D1 is on a whole other level. You need to be on your A-game every single match and you can’t over look any opponent. We know we will be the underdog in every single match no matter how far we go. We will fight for every point and are looking to build upon our late season push.”
Pasadena coach Emily Fuentes: ” I couldn’t be more proud of my girls. When they found out they got the wildcard game, their faces lit up! We had a few goals this year as a team and making it to the playoffs is one of them. I believe my girls are ready to execute this Saturday night against San Marino and move forward!”
