Rose Garden Resident

Sports

Lions fall to Gilroy in soccer semifinals

By Kevin Sparrer

Dreams come and they go. But unfortunately, when they die, they die hard.

The Lincoln boys soccer team was on its way to making a dream come true in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, but the Lions fell short in the semifinal round of the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Gilroy Feb. 20.

Francisco Heredia led the offense for the Lions throughout the season, scoring 24 goals--almost twice as many as any other player on the squad.

Along with Heredia, Juan Flores a top scorer for Lincoln, putting the ball in the back of the net 13 times. Nestor Mora was third with 10 goals.

It was Ricky Dorrego making the swift passes as the assist leader for Lincoln. Dorrego had 20 assists this year, Luis Chavez had 11 and Heredia had eight.

Martin Reyes spent the majority of the time between the posts with 1,650 minutes in the net. Reyes allowed only 20 goals throughout the season, and recorded six shutouts. Joshua Brennan spent 225 minutes in the net, allowing only five goals and notching one shutout.

The Lions will be graduating nine players this year, including Rodolfo Herrera, Tyler Shafsky, Flores, Dorrego, Heredia, Enrique Lopez, Hector Baez, Chavez and Omar Atayde. Returning next year will be juniors Brennan, Nick Gonzales, Mora, Juan Ramirez, Travis Cart, Karl Fillip and Chase Austin, sophomore Eduardo Garcia and freshmen Reyes, Eduardo Medina, Miguel Dorrego and Arnold Lopez.

Lincoln ended its season with a 19-3-2 record overall after going 11-2-1 to win the championship in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Girls fall in playoffs

The boys soccer team wasn't the only Lincoln team that was forced to give up on their CCS dreams--the girls basketball team also fell during the playoffs.

The lady Lions lost to Mills 60-48 on Feb. 21 in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs, despite the efforts of Alex Scoffone, who was the dominant offensive player for Lincoln. Scoffone scored 20 in the loss. Kaylin Mitsumori was next with 12 points, including a pair of threes. Katie Silva had 11 with one free throw, Whitley Davis had three with a free one and Ashley Guin finished with two.

Unfortunately for the Lions, the majority of the team will not be returning next year.