Top-Ranked Cougars Are Preparing to Pounce

Capistrano Valley begins the long trek to defending its Southern Section Division I title this week. Cougar Coach Jack Peterson isn’t expecting an easy run to the top this year, and isn’t even sure whether the team can win the South Coast League title.

“Last year, we saw one of the best senior classes ever,” Peterson said. “Their graduation hit a lot of teams hard, so this year I think everything is going to be really close. It should be a really exciting season.”

The top-ranked Cougars will open their season Wednesday against No. 7 Woodbridge and on Thursday begin play in the Mater Dei tournament, where four of the county’s top six teams will compete along with several other highly-ranked teams from out of the area.

“It’s not going to be an easy week,” Peterson said. “But I’m really interested to see how we compete and where everyone else is at.”

In its second year, the Mater Dei tournament will host 12 teams over three days in a pool-play format. Along with Capistrano Valley, No. 2 Aliso Niguel, No. 4 Esperanza and No. 6 Mission Viejo will compete. Huntington Beach and Foothill round out the county participants. Ventura Buena, the Division II champion; Arcadia, a Division I semifinalist; Atascadero, a Division III semifinalist, and Lakewood Mayfair, the Division III champion, complete the field.

“The best teams want to play the best teams so they can see how they measure up,” Mater Dei Coach Austin Sharp said. “This tournament provides the opportunity for the finest high school teams in Southern California to display their talents.”

The Cougars suffered their only defeat of last season, a 1-0 loss to Aliso Niguel, in the Monarchs’ tournament, and a rematch is a possibility. Capistrano Valley opens at 3:30 p.m. Thursday against Arcadia, the team it defeated in a semifinal last season.

Mission Viejo, the tournament’s defending champion, tied Arcadia in its season opener and will play San Diego University in the first round.

The tournament will be held at Mile Square Park with games at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Saturday’s pool-play rounds continue at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. with the third-place and championship games at 2:30 p.m.

UPSET WEEK

Several preseason top-10 teams got a wake-up call early this year. Most surprising was No. 8 Edison, which lost to Newport Harbor, 2-1. The Sailors then turned around and lost to Foothill in their next game. Fourth-ranked Woodbridge held on for a 0-0 tie against previously unranked Dana Hills.

Ninth-ranked Corona del Mar fell, 2-1, to unranked Canyon in the second round of the Whittier La Serna tournament. However, Coach Ron Evans was missing three key players in the game, including goalkeeper Britta Vogele. A sprained knee forced Vogele out of the Sea Kings’ past two games, forcing Evans to put field players in the goal.

“We don’t have a backup keeper,” Evans said. “We dominated the game, but no excuses. You have to win.”

The Sea Kings also were missing Times’ Orange County first-team defender Molly O’Meara and forward Allison Harvey, who were taking their SATs. Evans expects Vogele to return when Corona del Mar hosts No. 3 Santa Margarita today.

“She really wants to play,” he said. “She went to the doctor when she did it last week and he said two weeks. But she is going back again to see if he’ll release her.” The game begins at 3 p.m.

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