Cate School’s boys soccer team is starting its season as the No. 25 high school squad in the country according to ESPN, which issues the Powerade Fab 50 rankings each week during the winter sports season.
Cate won last year’s CIF Southern Section Division VII title and returns most of its lineup, including reigning CIF Player of the Year Ema Boateng, along with key addition Jeff Acheampong, a freshman from Ghana.
The Rams (1-0) are already off to a great start having defeated Santa Maria, a ranked team in Division III, 3-0 on the road. Boateng scored twice in that game.
Cate’s next game is the Rams’ home opener, to be played next Friday against Pacifica.
Here’s what ESPN had to say about Cate:
On paper, it’s difficult to find a California team with more top-end individual talent than Cate School. Ema Boateng and Josh Yaro, Youth National Team members, are back, along with Yale commit Avery Schwartz and a newcomer from Ghana who could be an impact player. What’s holding this team back in the rankings is a lack of quality opponents. Last year’s team defeated perennial Division 1 playoff contender Harvard-Westlake, which served as a comparison between Cate and other section powers. That meeting took place in a tournament that no longer exists. This year, Cate — a Division 7 power — will face Division 1 San Marcos, which didn’t even qualify for the playoffs, and Division 3 Pacifica and Santa Ynez, which were both first-round playoff casualties last year.
