Girls soccer earns ninth seed in CIF playoffs

By Joe Naiman

The CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting on Feb. 22 gave Ramona High School girls soccer team its first playoff match in three years.

The team was given the ninth seed and a first-round match Feb. 25 against No. 8-seed Horizon Christian Academy at Horizon. The match will begin at 3:30 p.m.

The first-round winner plays Friday at Escondido Charter.

“We’re excited to be in the playoffs,” said assistant coach Deena Vizcarra. “We’re pretty happy about that, very happy about getting the chance to be in the Division III playoffs.”

A 4-1 home win Feb. 19 against Orange Glen and a 4-0 loss Feb. 21 against Del Norte gave Ramona a final regular-season record of 7-9-2, including a 4-6 Valley League mark. The game against Orange Glen was Senior Night and the pre-game festivities recognized seniors Teresa Italiano, Bianca Scodellaro, and Jamie Williams.

“Very sad to see them go,” Vizcarra said.

Orange Glen scored the game’s first goal in the eighth minute. The Bulldogs tied the game when Katherine Lorentz passed to Karli Njaa, who headed the ball into the net. Ramona took the lead on a goal by Kacie Jordan with an assist from Kathrin Hoertig, and the 2-1 score held up for the remainder of the first half.

“The second half we came out super strong,” Vizcarra said.

Hoertig passed to Njaa, who scored 30 seconds into the second half. Midway in the second half Njaa took a corner kick that was headed into the net by Lorentz.

“We brought it on strong,” said Vizcarra.

In the Bulldogs’ loss to Del Norte, the Nighthawks had a 1-0 halftime lead.

“We had midfield control, getting first to the ball,” Vizcarra said.

“We actually had a lot more shots in the second half. Our defense played hard,” she noted. “Del Norte’s a little bit quicker.”