El Loquisimo de Marzo en fútbol local.
March madness in local high school soccer kicks off Tuesday with three teams playing in CIF semifinal matches
Santa Barbara, the defending Division 2 champion, plays host to West Torrance in a Division 1 Final Four match at Peabody Stadium at 3 p.m.
In Division 5, Carpinteria travels to Westlake to take on Tri-Valley League rival Oaks Christian.
And, in Division 7, Cate puts its undefeated record on the line against University Prep in Victorville.
Tuesday’s winners will play for CIF championships on Saturday in Downey.
Santa Barbara (19-5-3) vs. West Torrance (16-6-5) (Division I Bracket) — The Dons are coming off an emotional 2-1 double-overtime win at JSerra. In that game, leading goal-scorer Alfredo Ibarra suffered a blow to the head while going for Tony Alfaro’s free kick that eventually went in for the game-winning goal.
Ibarra was examined at the hospital and it was determined he didn’t suffer a concussion.
“He actually felt a lot better as early as Saturday morning, coach Todd Heil said. As a precaution, Ibarra was held out of practice on Saturday.
“The hope is that he’s ready to go Tuesday.”
West Torrance comes into Peabody Stadium full of confidence. The Warriors upset third-seeded Loyola 2-1 without their star player, midfielder Ike Akubuilo. He was suspended for the game after getting two yellow cards in the previous playoff game. The 5-10 senior will be back in the lineup for the Warriors, the No. 2 team from the Bay League.
The Warriors and Dons are not strangers.
“We actually played them in the semis of the South Torrance Tournament,” Heil noted. “We tied 0-0 and beat them in PKs. They are a well-coached, disciplined team that defends very well and works extremely hard.”
Carpinteria (19-3-3) vs. Oaks Christian (13-7-1) (Division V Bracket) — The big question here is can the Warriors dispel the adage it’s tough to beat the same team three times. In league play, they won 3-0 at home at 1-0 at Oaks Christian.
Brimming with confidence, Carpinteria is playing great soccer. The Warriors survived a penalty-kick shootout at Arroyo Grande and handed Division 5 top-seed La Cañada its only loss on Ismael Soriano golden-goal in a double-overtime thriller last Friday in the pouring ran.
Coach Danny Torres was so excited over his team’s performance in the La Cañada match he said he didn’t care if they played Manchester United in the semifinals.
Oaks Christian doesn’t have a Wayne Rooney or a Paul Scholls, but the Lions are a rejuvenated team after finishing fourth in the TVL. Ranked No. 1 in the Division at one point during the regular season, they’ve won four playoff games, including a wild-card game to make 32-team main draw. They beat No. 4 seed Mountain View 1-0 in the first round and blanked Cajon 2-0 last Friday in the quarterfinals.
Cate (20-0-0) vs. University Prep (21-4) (Division VII Bracket) — One of the dangers top-seeded Cate faced going into the Division 7 playoffs was handling road trips to faraway places. Fortunately for the Rams, they didn’t have to make the trek to Mammoth Lakes, since it was at the opposite end of the bracket as the No. 2 seed.
They will, however, have to travel to cold and windy Victorville and play a University Prep team that won a first-round game 14-1, and is coming off a 4-1 win in the quarterfinals.
Cate did quite well handling a long bus trip to Redlands, where it ran over The Grove School 10-0 in the quarterfinals. Ema Boateng and Avery Schwartz recorded hat tricks.
If University Prep doesn’t have good team speed and a solid defense, it could be a long afternoon for the Jaguars.
