GIRLS SOCCER: St. Francis Defeats Mountain View to Win CCS Title

St. Francis 2, Mountain View 1

The Star: Sophomore forward Cristina Polini assisted on the first goal of the game and scored the eventual game winner four minutes into the second half of play.

The big day helped St. Francis capture the Central Coast Section Division I Girls Soccer Championship, defeating Mountain View High 2-1 Saturday afternoon at Valley Christian High.

Polini caught the Spartans with a quick counter early in the second half. With only one player to beat, the speedy forward got a step on her mark and blistered a hot shot into the top corner of the cage.

The Turning Point: The second Lancers goal came four minutes into the second half. Down two goals, the previously dormant Mt. View attack woke up in a big way. Mt. View pushed up and took advantage of a rare St. Francis turnover in the midfield to slice the lead in half.

Junior defender Rachel Fish stole the pass at midfield and flipped the ball down the sideline to Emily Andrew. Finally with a little room to operate, the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division champs strung together the goal of the day. Andrew crossed to Elizabeth Brown, who alertly turned her back to the cage and tapped a quick pass to senior captain Kirsten Belinsky. Belinsky unloaded a shot high into net to breathe new life into the Spartans.

The Quotes: “It’s amazing,” St. Francis senior defender Lauren Schmidt said after the girls soccer team won the CCS crown for the 10^th time in school history. “I was waiting all year for this.”

 Sophomore Polini was equally as jazzed about the win.

 “It feels good,” Polini said. “I didn’t care who did it. I just wanted to win it.”

 Mt. View capped off an excellent season with a second place finish in the D-II draw.

 “I couldn’t be more proud,” Belinsky said. “Just getting to this final game was our main goal. Winning it would have been nice, but it doesn’t take away from anything that we’ve done to get here.”

 Belinsky was one of the key cogs in the furious late game rally by the Spartans.

“We know how to move the ball if we have time,” Belinsky said. “We were doing a good job of keeping the ball in their half. A couple of the chances we got were close.”

  What's Next? Both teams finished off tremendous 2010-11 seasons in style. The stirring CCS finale left players, coaches and spectators on the edge of their seats until the final whistle.

Bottom Line: The St. Francis midfield dominated the game in the first 40 minutes. Seniors Ellen Jewell, Rachel Wimmer and freshman Megan Keeth controlled possession and helped keep the Mt. View front line far away from the Lancers goal box. With a little bit desperation on its side, the Spartans pushed forward and turned the tables on the Lancers in the second 40 minutes.

The best tying chance came in the 74^th minute when Belinsky flew down the far sideline and whipped a crossing pass into the middle of the box. The fast moving ball just missed connecting with a cutting Spartans teammate.

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St. Francis 2, Mt. View 1
(at Valley Christian)
Scoring: SF:  Kingman (Polini) 23:00, SF: Polini 44:00, MV: Belinsky (Brown and Andrew) 53:00.
Records: SF: 17-3-3. MV: 14-3-6.