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2006 Fall Sports
Metro Conference

Girls Field Hockey

Metro Conference All-Conference Team

First Team

Second Team

Honorable Mention

Player of the Year: Veronica Mejia (Hilltop)

Final Metro Conference Standings

Note: Bonita Vista and Hilltop share 2006 Metro Conference championship title, both quaify for San Diego Section playoffs.

2006 San Diego Section Scoreboard

BV is Toogood for Lancers, wins OT match

CHULA VISTA, Nov. 1, 2006 -- All one had to do to gauge for themselves just how much parity reigns in Metro Conference girls field hockey this season was to follow the fortunes of the Bonita Vista Barons in recent games. The Barons entered Thursday’s final regular season game against visiting Otay Ranch with a chance to claim a share of this year’s league title, but so did a couple of other teams.

In a game that had championship ramifications written all over it — mainly from the perspective of the Hilltop Lancers — Bonita Vista made amends for a first-round 3-2 loss to the Lancers by recording a 3-1 overtime win against visiting Hilltop on Oct. 26.

A victory by the Lancers would have virtually cemented Hilltop’s claim to an outright title.

Alex Hakes scored to allow the Barons to continue playing in overtime, whereupon Andi Toogood scored twice to place Bonita Vista back even with Hilltop in first place in the league standings with each team owning one league loss (to one another).

Jayde Aman had the Lancers’ regulation goal.

The Barons had positioned themselves for the rematch with the Lancers by recording a pair of nail-biting wins. Hakes scored in the final minute of regulation on a penalty shot to lift Bonita Vista to a tenuous 1-0 victory against visiting Eastlake on Oct. 12. The Barons then defeated preseason favorite Otay Ranch, 1-0, on Oct. 17 on a goal scored by Toogood.

Then came Tuesday’s rematch against Eastlake on the Titans’ field. The Barons needed wins in their final two regular season games to capture this year’s title outright.

Eastlake won 2-1 in strokes.

Otay Ranch, meanwhile, defeated visiting Chula Vista by a 2-1 score on goals by Luli Rangel and Chloe Banales. Hilltop, with two league losses to match Bonita Vista is scheduled to host Eastlake and Chula Vista in its final two regular season games.

Otay Ranch plays Bonita Vista and Eastlake in its final two games before the San Diego Section playoffs start Nov. 11.
League play wraps up Nov. 7. A champion — or possibly champions — will emerge at that time.

Lancers blank Mustangs in key field hockey tilt

CHULA VISTA, Oct. 24, 2006 -- Erica Hernandez and Jayde Aman each scored goals to lead Hilltop to a key 2-0 Metro Conference girls field hockey win against Otay Ranch Tuesday on the Lancers’ home field. The win made up for a 2-0 loss in strokes to the Mustangs in the first round of league play and set the wheels in motion for Thursday’s showdown between Hilltop and Bonita Vista at BVHS for the conference lead.

After the Lancers downed Bonita Vista, 3-2, on Oct. 10, Hilltop coach Lynn Garcia thought Tuesday’s rematch against Otay Ranch might serve as the conference’s championship match. But all that changed when the Barons defeated the previously unbeaten Mustangs on Oct. 17, giving Hilltop, Bonita Vista and Otay Ranch all one loss heading into Tuesday’s games.

The Mustangs came out with two losses, with both the Lancers and Barons heading into Thursday’s rivalry game with four wins and one loss apiece in conference play.

Hilltop came out determined to play against Otay Ranch by racking up a 14-0 shot advantage. Hernandez scored with 4:28 to play in the opening 30-minute half and Aman added an insurance goal with 16:46 to play in the second half.

Mustang goaltender Diana Marin finished the game with 12 saves.

“The girls were determined not to let this game go to strokes again,” Garcia said. “The big difference was that the girls played as a team, passing to each other. Like Erica said, they connected the dots. That’s a good way to describe it. Every drill we do with a purpose. They just put it together.”

Hilltop set up Tuesday’s big win by defeating Eastlake and Chula Vista by 2-0 and 4-0 scores, respectively, the previous week.
Erika Avalos and Aman each scored goals against Eastlake while Marleen Canillas, Hernandez, Avalos and Aman tallied goals against Chula Vista. Nadine Zuniga received credit for both shutouts.

“It’s in our own hands. We just need to play as tough as we can,” Garcia said.

The Barons undoubtedly had the same game plan heading into Thursday’s battle against the Lancers.

Late goal keeps Lancers in title contention
CHULA VISTA, Oct. 10, 2006 -- Hilltop captured the first-ever Metro Conference girls field hockey championship in 2003 and has finished in second place in each of the past two years. After the Lancers fell, 2-0, to Otay Ranch in strokes in their league opener on Oct. 5, visions of another elite finish appear on the horizon.

“The game against Otay was so close. It was scoreless all the way through regulation and scoreless in the overtime period. There was no score at all. It went to strokes. Strokes is tough,” said Hilltop coach Lynn Garcia, whose spunky team defeated defending Metro champion Bonita Vista by a 3-2 score Tuesday to even its league record at 1-1.

The Lancers play at Eastlake on Tuesday, Oct. 17, and at Chula Vista on Thursday, Oct. 19, before hosting Otay Ranch on Oct. 24.

“The plan is to beat Eastlake and Chula Vista and, when it comes back to our house, to beat Otay Ranch,” Garcia said.

Certainly, a lot of enthusiasm and optimism was generated by Tuesday’s victory in front of a large gathering of fans from both teams. Erica Hernandez gave the hosts an early 1-0 lead before the visiting Barons responded with unanswered goals by Amber Zimmermann and Alexandra Hakes to lead 2-1. But the final two goals of the game came off Hilltop sticks — both by Veronica Mejia.

The game-winner came with less than five minutes to play.

Marlene Canillas drew assists on two of the Lancers’ goals while Casey Dow helped set up the game-winner.

The game did not feature a lot of shots on goal — Hilltop held a narrow 5-4 edge — though Lancer goaltender Nadine Zuniga was credited with three stops.

Garcia hopes Tuesday’s victory is the first of many more to come after her team paid its dues with a challenging non-league schedule to face off the season. Hilltop recorded wins against Bishop’s, Santana and Helix in non-league play but fell to such teams as Rancho Buena Vista (2-0), Serra (8-0), El Capitan (3-0), Fallbrook (4-1) and Vista (3-0).

“I try to schedule tough teams in the preseason for a purpose,” Garcia said. “You learn by playing tougher teams. We’re staying close in the first half to those teams. We were up 1-0 at the half against Fallbrook and it was 0-0 against Serra. We played tough here against Vista.”

Bonita Vista went undefeated in league play last season.

“They had a great season last year. I knew this game would be the one,” Garcia said. “It’s always such a great rivalry.”

Bonita Vista and Eastlake were scheduled to play on the Barons’ field Thursday while Otay Ranch was to visit Chula Vista.
Luli Rangel and Jessica Edwards each scored one goal to lead the Mustangs to their league-opening 2-0 victory against Hilltop. Goaltender Diana Marin received credit for the shutout victory.

Both of Hilltop’s games this coming week are at 3 p.m.

“The league is getting much tougher,” Garcia said. “Otay Ranch is getting better. Eastlake and Bonita Vista have always been great.”

And Hilltop appears to be in the championship race once again.

Otay Ranch earning respect on field hockey pitch

CHULA VISTA, Sept. 21, 2006 -- After scoring a 4-2 victory in strokes against defending Grossmont Conference champion El Capitan to improve its early season record to 4-0, the Otay Ranch High School girls field hockey team appears to have made a statement for respectability.

Mustangs head coach Tamara Holmes admitted the program is starting to develop.

“Our goal as a developing program is to work on our skills and surprise some teams,” she said.

This is the third year for the program and the second year under Holmes, a 1999 graduate of Hilltop High School. Otay Ranch finished near the .500 level in Metro Conference play last year and could build on that this season if the team’s dramatic comeback victory against the visiting Vaqueros is any indicator.

El Capitan led 1-0 on a first-half goal by Carla Boek before the Mustangs tied the game on a goal by Jessica Edwards in the dying minutes. After a 10-minute overtime period, the game went to the stroke phase where Luli Rangel, Edwards and Alyssa Leon-Guerrero each scored goals while goaltender Diana Marin allowed just one Vaquero shot to elude her.
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El Capitan fell to 5-2 on the season, with both losses in strokes.

Top returners include Rangel and Leon-Guerrero, both seniors, and juniors Marin and Lauren Hoffmann. Edwards, a seniors, and junior Chloe Banales comprise the team’s impact newcomers.

Banales supplied the game-winning goal in a 1-0 non-league victory against Orange Glen while Edwards had two goals and Banales added one goal in a 3-0 win against Valhalla. The Mustangs also defeated Mission Bay by a 3-0 score.

Otay Ranch opens league play with an Oct. 5 home game against Hilltop. Should the Mustangs continue to build on their early season start, postseason competition could be in the offing. The San Diego Section playoffs start Nov. 11.



San Diego Section Preview

Chula Vista Spartans
With more returning players than ever on the varsity and junior varsity teams, Chula Vista High School girls field hockey coach Ben Villanueva is hoping it adds up to a successful season for the Spartans.

Top returners include junior Amber Mann, a second team all-league selection a year ago, senior Arely Lopez, an all-league honorable mention in 2005, and seniors Mercy Canizales and Denise Bohn.

Villanueva lists the team’s impact newcomers as Anhay Suarez, Cynthia Navaro, Karen Martinez and Apiphany Williams.

Chula Vista opened its season with a 4-0 loss to visiting Helix and dropped a narrow 2-1 decision to visiting Point Loma in another non-league encounter the following week.

Helix Highlanders
The Helix High School girls field hockey team has finished third in Grossmont Conferenced play for the past three years but has plans to better that this season.

“This year we are hoping to finish higher than that and make it into (the) CIF playoffs,” Highlanders head coach Cheryl Tyler said.

This season’s Helix team is bolstered by the return of two first team all-league players — senior Sarah TreviÒo and junior Leigh Rutherford — and a pair of all-league honorable mentions: juniors Lindsay Matteson and Kaycee Gunion. Other top returners include senior Katrine Wilborn and sophomores Carly Sanchez and Taylor Wright.

The team’s impact newcomer this season is junior Himiko Randolph.

Sanchez, Rutherford and Wright had three of the Highlanders’ four goals in a 4-0 win at Chula Vista on Sept. 7 while Gunion recorded the shutout.