Champion Wildcats! Los Gatos upsets St. Francis to win the CCS Division I title
SANTA CLARA — When you save a penalty kick, don’t overthink it.
Even if the Central Coast Section Division I championship is on the line.
“You have to try not to get in your head,” Los Gatos goalkeeper Cora Bryant said. “You can’t blame yourself when you score points.
Usually, it only takes one save. And Bryant stopped that in the third round of penalties, giving Los Gatos the edge it needed to earn a 4-3 victory over St. Louis. Francis in the senior division title game.
A penalty shootout ended a 0-0 game after regulation and overtime, making Los Gatos the first state school to win a CCS division championship since Mountain View in 2022.
It’s the Wildcats’ first top-flight CCS title since 2014 and the sixth in school history.
“We knew it was going to be a battle from as soon as the whistle blew until the end,” Los Gatos first-year coach Lisa Mitchell said. “St. Francis is a great team, and it was tight there, and we knew it could have gone either way. Both teams had chances. Both teams had strong backs. So we were hoping we could get one. But they weren’t giving us anything.”
Los Gatos (18-1-3) couldn’t score, but the Cats controlled the PKs when Bryant knocked down Julia Malcolm’s attempt by diving to Bryant’s left, learned the kick and made a slow stop.
Both teams had back-to-back scoring opportunities, including a corner for each team late in stoppage time that led to a dangerous chance. But there were no goals coming Friday in Santa Clara.
“We have to give Los Gatos a lot of credit,” said the St. Louis coach. Francis Carlos Barboza. “They were relentless, they were physical, they were running. And I don’t think we played our best game, but I have to give credit that they didn’t play our best game. There was no rhythm. There was a lot of emotion. And so at the end of the day, I think when you go to PKs, it’s a coin toss. So the game was frustrating. time.”
The loss to the Lancers snapped three straight top division titles for St. Francis (19-1-1).
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