Team looks for strong second half of season
By Hector Trujillo
The Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) womens varsity soccer team looks to close out the season strong in hopes of making another run in the CIF-SDS playoffs as it did last year as the third-seed.
The Lady Falcons started off this time around going undefeated in the first two matches after a 1-1 draw against San Dieguito Academy on Dec. 2 and a 1-0 victory over Hilltop on Dec. 4.
“I’m pleased where we are at, but we can obviously get better,” said head coach Tom Crane. “We are trying to get used to playing with each other because that can be an issue with different age groups.”
SRHS suffered back-to-back loses to Academy of Our Lady of Peace on Dec. 10 and then Del Norte High on Dec. 11 before bouncing back with a dramatic 3-2 win against Olympian High on Dec. 12, all of which came during tournament play.
“We play a really talented schedule, and our losses are to teams that I think are going to go far in the CIF playoffs,” Crane said. “We are working on winning league, winning CIF and winning state because those are the three goals every year.”
The Lady Falcons entered the heart of league play on Jan. 20 versus La Jolla High before playing the next five on the road against San Diego High School on Jan. 22, Mission Bay High on Jan. 27, Mira Mesa High on Jan. 29, Olympian High on Feb. 2 and a rematch with La Jolla High on Feb. 5.
“Every game in our league is big, with Mission Bay being the defending champion,” Crane said. “They are bringing back a lot of talented players, but everybody in our league has talent. We also get to renew our rivalry this year with Mira Mesa because they are in our league.”
SRHS finishes the regular season with three-straight home games against Canyon Hills High on Feb. 7, San Diego High on Feb. 10 and the finale versus Mission Bay High on Feb. 12.
The Lady Falcons ended last season with a 12-4-5 record, defeating Valhalla High 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Rancho Bernardo High 3-1 in the second round.
“It kind of worked out well league-wise this year with all the teams in Western League being in Division One and all the teams in Eastern League being in Division Two,” Crane said.
