The Mission Bay girls soccer team will take on Steele Canyon in the first round of the playoffs after closing out the regular season with an impressive 8-4-4 record. The Bucs closed out strong losing only one of the final eight games, which included going undefeated in the last five.
“We made the playoffs last year, but we graduated a lot of seniors,” said head coach Jorge Palacios. “It’s going to be the first experience in a playoff atmosphere for many of the players.”
Two-thirds of the team is made up of freshman and sophomores all of whom contributed to their solid performance especially on the defensive end by giving up only 11 goals in 16 matches including nine shutouts.
“We accomplished some of our goals this year and I was pleasantly surprised with how the girls played,” Palacios added.
After starting off the season with a 3-0 defeat to Francis Parker, Mission Bay went on a roll going undefeated over the next five games, which included four wins by a combined 16-1 scoreline. The Bucs were able to rebound from back-to-back loses versus La Jolla and San Diego High with victories over Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch as the team gave up only three goals over the last eight matches, which included back-to-back scoreless draws against Christian High to end the season.
Steele Canyon and Mission Bay did not face each other during the regular season with the Cougars finishing with a 8-8-4 record including going undefeated over its last three games. Mission Bay finished last season with a 12-7-2 record, which included a dramatic 3-2 loss in the playoffs versus Rancho Bernardo.
Photo by Steve Sidell
