TDS HS TotW goes California

by Will Parchman

March 18, 2014

Welcome to the TopDrawerSoccer.com High School Team of the Week.

Each week, high school teams across the nation put in performances worthy of accolade. Here, we offer the stage. In this space each week, we’ll honor one boys team and one girls team that made an especially deep imprint from the previous week. If you’d like to nominate a team, please send in your submissions by 9 a.m. each Monday to highschool@topdrawersoccer.com.

This week, team of the week zeroes in on SoCal, as the state wrapped up its ballyhooed Southern California regional tournament last weekend. That made for some scintillating (and improbable) finishes as teams leaned across the finish line in one of the most competitive regions for high school soccer in the nation.

Boys: Los Angeles Loyola

Loyola has been No. 1 in NSCAA’s California region for the entire season for good reason. Seniors Lucas Hodges (a Villanova commit) and Sean Pleskow (a UC San Diego commit) have led the line for Loyola this season, and they pushed Loyola through an unbeaten regular season and into the Division I CIF-SS playoffs with plenty of expectation.

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After meeting up with fellow top 10 San Clemente in the final, Loyola overcame a 1-0 deficit with goals from Jesus Fugon, Ryan Savitt and Hodges for a 3-1 win. That pushed Loyola into the regional playoffs, where a sizzling 3-0 run culminated in a 2-1 win over San Diego’s Carlsbad in the title game on March 15. That victory, which was sealed by a 77th minute winner from Pleskow, set Loyola’s program-best mark at 30-0-6 to finish the season.

Girls: San Diego Westview

The surprise of California? Quite possible. Westview’s season hasn’t always been perfect, but it ended with a Division 1 regional championship in a 2-1 win over Chino Hills on March 15. Its regular season was studded with eight losses, including three to San Diego rival Torrey Pines. But the tables flipped on their head in the postseason, as Westview bounced Torrey Pines from the sectional tournament before meeting up with them again in the second round of the regional tourney.

With the teams locked at 1-1 in overtime of the semifinal, Angel Meriwether uncorked a lethal flip throw that bounced off the keeper’s hands and into the net. That gave Westview a wild 2-1 win and pushed them into the finale, where they bumped off Chino Hills to polish off a successful (and somewhat improbable) 20-8-4 season.

Honorable mention

Boys: Southwest (Calif.), St. Margaret’s (Calif.)

Girls: Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), Francis Parker (Calif.)