Yet another wild and crazy year ahead?
Will this season’s varsity soccer and volleyball competition be as intense, hard-fought, and topsy-turvy as last year’s?
Could be.
It will, of course, be hard to duplicate the heart-pounding excitement induced by the worst-to-first comeback of last year’s Christian Learning girls volleyball team in the playoffs; and one almost has to hope that this year won’t see more than half of the boys soccer games ending in ties. (A tie, as someone has said, is like getting kissed by your sister.)
But very definitely things could be close again. Here’s the rundown on how the teams will shape up when the season starts Sept. 1.
Boys Soccer -- Junior is a Senior
Incredibly, Cambridge was the only team last year to win more than one game – and only one other team managed that many. All the other games – seven of the 12 played -- ended in ties.
The Knights won all of four games and could claim to be undefeated. However, Cambridge was tied twice and was only able to beat winless (but much-tied) International in the semifinals in a shootout after two scoreless overtime periods.
The Knights will again have Junior Sanchez – Junior is now a senior – who led the League in scoring by a very wide margin last year with 17 goals. However, they will not have Martin Pacor, the League’s second high scorer (with five), who has graduated, and who teamed up with Sanchez on several goals.
And that’s not all of Cambridge’s losses through graduation and students leaving the city. The Knights must replace goalie Juan Manuel Salas; stalwart defenders Christopher Cocciani, Yeshen Li Tan, and Jhonny Sejas; as well as swift and ever-dangerous strikers Nicolas Gamboa and Zhau Fua Zhou Zeng.
But they will be counting on tested players like Alexander Nagel, Fabricio Subirana, Matias Martinez and Alvaro Lopez, as well players coming up from last year’s strong junior varsity team to fill those gaps such as Javier de las Hera, Anthony Salvatierra, and Herless Diaz. The Knights will again be coached by Carlos Eulert.
Christian Learning, for its part, will have to learn to get along without two of its top scorers top scorers from last year, Esteban Eguez and Alex Apodaca, and may have even more trouble replacing goalie Alejandro Garcia, widely regarded as the best in the League last year. That could mean this season will be a “rebuilding year” for the Eagles.
On the other hand the Eagles will have ever-dangerous striker Josh Mojica and all-star defender Danny Canaviri to build around. The Eagles´ fate will depend on how quickly veteran coach Douglas Montaño can bring along his younger players.
Cooperative had perhaps the fewest losses due to graduation and looms as the biggest threat to Cambridge. The Jaguars will have back four potent scorers – Jose Alfredo Abuawad, Jose Maria Vasquez, Jean Andre Bretel, and Federico Sauto. The Jaguars could also get scoring help from Santiago Paz, who was the leading junior varsity scorer last year with 25 goals. Cooperative will also be augmented by another freshman flash, Jung Kim.
The Jaguars will be coached by former athletic director (now dean of students) Nicolaas Mostert, and will no doubt be hungry to be the first Jaguar boys varsity team to win a championship since 2006.
Last, but unlikely to be least, International will have one of its top scorers from last year, Jorge Harriague, to lead its effort to get back atop the League. (Cambridge and International have taken turns winning the championship over the last four years.) However, the Griffins will have to compensate for the loss of its other top scorer, Juan Javier Estennsoro.
A strong core of new additions may more than compensate for that loss, including seniors Diego Nostas and Mateo Terrinoni. Coach Eduardo ¨Presi¨ de la Riva expects to have outstanding goaltending with Santiago Maldonado in the nets.
Girls Soccer -- Jaguars could be even better
Again this year one has to like the prospects of the Cooperative girls varsity, which will have the services of a platoon of talented young players who enabled the Jaguars to run amok (and undefeated) through the League last year – with some important additions.
Back again is the League’s top scorer from last year, Tania Landivar (who is still only a ninth grader), as well as Cecelia Aponte, Carla Limpias, Sofia Sotelo, and Talia Rozenman.
Eighth grader Giovanna Varalta, who (assisted by some pretty passing from teammates) scored both of the Jaguars’ goals in last year’s championship game, will also be returning. So too will Fernanda Vaca Diez, a star in 2007 who had to sit out the season last year because of academic ineligibility.
And that’s not all. Cooperative expects some fireworks from sisters Maria Paz and Maria Jose Ribera, freshly returned from a successful year in the United States during which they were soccer standouts for their school. The girl Jaguars will again be coached by Rolando Cabrera.
Christian Learning made the most of the only three goals it scored last year to parlay its way into the championship game. Two of its scorers – Laura Lindahl and Lindsey Kehler will be back, as will the intrepid all-around athlete Kaylyn Lampen.
The other scorer, Whitney Belovicz, has graduated. Belovicz’ departure also creates a gap at goalie, where she was usually stationed. What’s worse, the player who filled in for Belovicz in the nets when she was injured – Tabitha Malloy – has moved to the US.
In short, Coach Larry Lindahl may have to reach even more deeply into his bag of tricks – overloading the defense, shadowing the enemy stars, and boosting morale through witty and inspirational pep talks. But Lindahl has shown it can be done.
International will have to get along without its leading scorer and most formidable player from last year, Melisa Roca, but will have some experienced players to build around, including Adriana Ocampo, Mariana Chavez, Maria Gutierrez, Matilde Gamarra, Arrianne Nostas, and Natalia Suarez. Promising newcomers include Natalia Davila, Beatriz Nallar, and Ana Laura Gutierrez.
The Griffins were the only team that gave the Jaguars a hard time during the regular season. In one game the score was tied well into the second half. They could pose a powerful threat again this year.
Cambridge will be starting the season without a single player on its roster who has scored a goal. However, the Lady Knights have a big pre-season roster -- 24 players -- that includes a nucleus of talented and experienced players. Among these are veteran goalie Raquel Lopez, Mariana Escaño, Ana Saavedra Banzer, Vitania Pulis, Manuela Yañez, Lucia Candia, and Lisa Delboy.
The Knights showed last year that they were capable of playing ferocious defense, and if they can find some scoring punch they could provide some surprises.
Boys Volleyball -- The past may be prologue
International and Christian Learning have dominated this competition in recent years, with occasional threats by Cooperative to upset the applecart. That pattern seems likely to persist this year though all three teams must replace key player who have graduated or moved.
Last year the Griffins dominated regular season play, posting a 6-0 record, but were upset – and actually pushed around -- in the championship game that Christian Learning won in two quick sets.
The Griffins this year will not have captain Rodrigo Bernal, Martin Gonzales, Jose Maria Landivar, Alex Roempler, or Christopher Saltzieder, who accounted for much of its starting line-up last year. However, they will have Mauricio Nostas, David Huang, and Renato Guzman to build this year’s team around. They will also get help from some of the outstanding players from last year’s strong junior varsity team.
(Last year’s junior varsity season followed the same pattern as the varsity. International finished first during the regular season, but was bested by Christian Learning in the championship.) International’s teams, coached by Eli Vilar, have a reputation of always being well prepared.
Christian Learning, for its part, will have to find replacements for its two Big Hitters, Jeff Stabler and Esteban Eguez, along with intrepid setter Kyle Swope, who was also capable of getting up above the net when necessary.
However, their line-up was not as depleted by graduation as International’s. Danny Canaviri and Andre Larsen have demonstrated spiking skills, and Paul Estes and Nicolas Smith are tested all-around players. Their 2008 junior varsity will also add some talent to this year’s varsity.
Coaching, though, will be a question mark. Christian Learning’s teams last year were all coached by athletic director Alejandra Salto, and three of the four won championships based as much on inspiration as perspiration. Salto has moved on, leaving a big pair of sneakers to be filled by the rookie boys coach Tim Gale.
Cooperative will again be looking to its big hitter, Jose Alfredo Abuawad, who last year demonstrated consistently that he had the highest vertical leap in the league. And he will again be abetted by Diego Morales, who jumps almost as high.
Missing, however, will be David Shin, the most artful setter in the League. Nonetheless, the Jaguars feel they have a worthy successor to Shin in Wilson Salvatierra. To challenge for the championship, however, the Jaguars will have to find a way to score consistently when Abuawad is not in their front line. They will be coached by the veteran taskmaster Jesus Flores.
Based on past history, Cambridge does not figure to be much of a factor. The Knights’ boys team has not won a regular season game since 2006 (though they did win one playoff game), and many of the better players they had last year have graduated or moved.
However, the Knights do have some skilled players returning, including Fabricio Subirana, Alvaro Lopez, Alexander Nagel,and Matias Martinez. And they have a new coach, Javier Maceda Baldiviezo. The Knight boys’ problem in volleyball in the past has been lack of interest rather than lack of talent, and perhaps the new coach will be better able to get the team’s attention.
Girls Volleyball -- Everybody's the favorite
No predictions will be offered here for girls volleyball. Last year the team that finished last in the regular season with a 1-5 record, Christian Learning, stormed through the playoffs to win the championship.
And, it´s worth noting, in that championship game they did not play the team that won the regular season, International. Instead they played Cooperative, which had finished second – but beat International two out of the three times they played during the season, including in the semifinals.
Third place Cambridge, for its part, demonstrated during the season that on a given Thursday they could (and did) beat both Cooperative and Christian Learning.
And so it went.
Instead of fearless forecasts, here are the reasons why each team should be considered the favorite to win this year.
Christian Learning will again have several of the standouts from last year’s playoffs, including Kaylyn Lampen, Natalia Eguez, and Daniela Doi. Tabitha Malloy is gone, but the Eagles have at least one tall player in Rachel Moss. New coach Alfred Bloomfield will need some bright ideas as to how the Lady Eagles can get along without Alejandra Valencia and Whitney Belovicz.
International, one must remember, won the regular season last year. They lost two big stars to graduation -- Melisa Roca, the most powerful server in the League, and Fabiana Murillo, an outstanding all around player. However, they will have many of excellent experienced players back. These include Soraya Dajbura, Stephanie Giotto, Ines Fernandez, Ana Laura
Gutierrez, and Laura Adriazola. And Coach Eli Vilar’s teams always show up ready to play.
Cooperative, for its part, should win because they have shown they can come up with the big wins when they need them (except, of course, for the time they got inundated by a tidal wave of Christian Learning adrenaline in the finals).
And every one of last year’s starters is back. Last year’s fabulous freshmen are now, of course, super sophomores – Ana Paula Peredo, Carla Limpias, Sofia Sotelo, and Audrey Saucedo. They will augment sizzling seniors Karla Flores, Veronica Richter, and Ana Paola Justiniano; and jamming juniors Aldana Roda, Florencia Arnera, and Vivian Froehle; not to mention fantastic freshman Tania Landivar.
And add in another senior -- Ximena Guzman -- freshly returned from a year in Colorado, where she was a volleyball standout.
One more factor: One thing can be said of Coach Misty Skidmore’s teams: They always get better.
Cambridge, however, will also have all of its starters back from a team that came on strong in the second half of last season (though not quite strong enough). The returnees include Ana Saavedra Banzer and Helen Yong, two of the most artful servers in the League, along with hard-hitters Mariana Escaño, Raquel Lopez, and Karen Aliaga, as well as veteran playmakers Vania Rueda and Maria Fornaguera.
Cambridge has, in the past, sometrimes had trouble getting enough players to field a team, but times may have changed. There were 21 players on their pre-season list. Their new coach, Javier Baldiviezo, has told them that this year they can go all the way, and the Lady Knights reportedly believe him.
