Temecula Valley, Santiago On Collision Course For CA Soccer Title

TEMECULA, CA — A dream came true over the weekend for the Temecula Valley varsity girls soccer team, who took home the Section Division 1 championship over the Santiago Sharks.

Now, the teams may have a date with destiny, as both the Golden Bears and the Sharks are on a potential collision course for the regional championship.

Fresh off their CIF Southern Division 1 championship, the Golden Bears (22-1-1) need just one more win to head to the regional title game. Temecula Valley earned a top seed and first round bye, advancing directly to the regional semifinal Thursday. The Golden Bears are coming off a 2-0 win Saturday over Santiago (22-2-3) in Corona.

"We have been dreaming about this moment, so it means everything to us," Natalie Mitchell, who netted a pair of goals in the game, told The Press-Enterprise.

For the Golden Bears, the title game represented a second shot at the Sharks, out of Corona, who were the only team to defeat them during the season, winning a Dec. 13 contest 2-1.

But in the title game, the Temecula Valley defense clamped down, shutting out Santiago.

“We just won the Division 1 title for the first time,” Temecula's Kate Jacobsen told the Press-Enterprise. “With our program, it has always been about setting new legacies for the future generation of Temecula Valley soccer. And we just raised the bar a little higher tonight.”

But it might not be the last time bears will dance with sharks this season.

Temecula Valley will play Tuesday's winner between the Los Alamitos Griffins (18-5-5) and Cleveland Cavaliers (21-3-4) out of Reseda. The Griffins enter the Division I SoCal Girls Soccer Championships as the fourth seed, while the Cavaliers enter as the fifth seed.

But lurking in the water on the other side of the bracket — and hungry for redemption — lies the No. 2 seed, Santiago.

The Sharks play Tuesday night against No. 7 Point Loma Pointers (11-5-4), playing out of San Diego. Should the Sharks defeat the Pointers, they'd play in the semifinal, too, against the winner between the third-ranked San Marcos Knights (16-5-3) and the sixth ranked Villa Park Spartans (19-4-2).

For Temecula, Thursday's semifinal game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Should Temecula Valley and Santiago both win their regional semifinal games, the teams would face each other for the third time this year.

This time, in a battle for the title of regional champion.