Before the majority of the crowd was able to park their cars and beat the ongoing traffic rush out of school, the Archbishop Mitty Monarchs had already scored, getting on the scoreboard in the first two minutes of their CIF NorCal Division I quarterfinal game against Foothill-Pleasanton.
On a sunny afternoon in San Jose, Mitty (21-1-2) beat the visiting Falcons (12-3-9) 4-0. In the very first season of Northern California playoffs, the nationally-ranked and CCS Open Division champion Monarchs were too much for the NCS semi-finalist Falcons. The early, scrappy goal of the Monarchs scored by sophomore Svea Neunfinger, who scored the game winner in Friday night's CCS championship game against Mountain View, came off early pressure from the Monarchs in the second minute.
The Monarchs kept up the pressure throughout, highlighted by their wide play of seniors Sophie Mendoza and Hailey Smith, who kept Foothill goalkeeper Allison Jenezon busy throughout the game. Foothill's best chance of the game came in the 17th minute, a free kick which bounced dangerously in the box, which turned into a 60 yard counter-attack by Smith. Smith nearly went all the way, with some brave defending by Foothill senior captain Quinn Lombardi keeping the scoreline at 1-0. Mitty wouldn't have to wait much longer for the second goal to come, a routine corner kick header scored by Lainie Cadieux, which halted any possible momentum Foothill had.
Foothill had several standout players, highlighted by senior captain Sarah Mirr, who at times controlled the midfield, and freshman Aly Marzocco, who was able to put some sustained pressure on the Monarchs the final ten minutes of the half despite not creating a clear cut chance. However, any forward momentum by the Falcons was stifled by the tough defensive work of seniors Katelyn Meyer and Macy McHale, who controlled the middle of the field and let the attacking stars of Mitty shine. One of those stars, the Washington State bound Smith, scored the Monarchs' third goal almost immediately from the second half kick off, erasing any doubt that Foothill could climb back into the game.
Mitty's fourth goal was scored by freshman star Emma Vane, whose brother Pat played and coached basketball at Mitty, and came off a long throw-in from Smith. At this point for Mitty it was all about resting players for what could potentially be a three-game week. The Monarchs, who had six seniors who signed letters of intent earlier this year, will continue their season on Thursday at home against Granite Bay, who upset third seed Mountain View in a penalty kick shootout.
The result prevented a rematch of the CCS Open Championship game, and the top two teams in the section according to Prep2Prep. Kickoff Thursday will be at 3 PM, but don't make the same mistake as people did on Tuesday, and get there early.
