Foothills Christian High School is nestled in El Cajon near Gillespie Field but draws students from as far away as Alpine and Ramona.
As fate has it, Alpine resident Isabella Prieto scored the game-winning goal in the Lady Knights’ 2-1 victory over Kearny High School in last Friday’s San Diego Section Division V girls soccer championship game at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista.
The CIF championship is the first in school history and Prieto was proud of her team’s accomplishment.
“It feels pretty amazing,” she said. “Since we got knocked out in the semifinals last year, to be able to come back this year and win is the best feeling in the world.”
It appeared as if second-seeded Foothills Christian (17-8-2) might eke out a 1-0 victory over fifth-seeded Kearny (15-6-6) after freshman Raelyn Barnes scored the game’s opening goal in the final minute before halftime.
Lady Knights goalkeeper Jada Hallahan and the defense in front of her appeared to have everything in control until the Lady Komets tied the game, 1-1, on a goal by Ana Venura with four minutes to play in regulation.
But that only seemed to ignite the scoring as Prieto added what proved to be the game-winner on deflection goal one minute later — three minutes from time.
The game-winning play developed off a free kick in which the ball deflected off the crossbar and then off Kearny goalkeeper Tiana Bradley to Prieto, who calmly tapped it in.
“We just had to trust in each other that we would be able to do this,” said Prieto, a sophomore in her second year on the team. “We held them so long from scoring that when we did let one in, we felt we needed to put in another one.”
Ninth-year Foothills coach Sean Thompson called the team a “super group of girls that came together.”
“After we got knocked out of the semifinals last year, our motto this year was ‘We’re not finished,’” the Foothills coach said. “We set a goal and finished it this year. It’s exhilarating. This is overwhelming.”
The Lady Knights, runner-up in the Ocean League standings, kicked off their championship run with a 9-1 quarterfinal win over 10th-seeded Crawford on Feb. 22, but needed an overtime goal to slip past sixth-seeded San Diego Jewish Academy, 5-4, in the semifinals on Feb. 26.
Almost famous
Granite Hills High School finished as this season’s Grossmont Hills League girls soccer champion with a 7-0-3 league record. The Lady Eagles finished undefeated against top challenger Grossmont High School after recoding a 3-1 win and 2-2 tie.
The teams drew a rematch in Saturday’s Division I girls championship at Mission Bay High School. The third time proved to be the charm for Grossmont (14-4-6) after the Lady Foothillers recorded a 1-0 win.
Top-seeded Granite Hills (14-6-4) created numerous offensive scoring opportunities in the teams’ finals matchup but second-seeded Grossmont proved up to the task of nullifying those chances.
Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Emery blocked a penalty kick in the 17th minute to keep the game scoreless and set the stage for junior Karlee Kennedy’s game-winning goal in the 46th minute.
Freshman Bridgette Wilson was credited with making the pass to Kennedy, who lofted the ball beyond the reach of Granite Hills sophomore goalkeeper Maci Vance for the only goal of the match.
The CIF championship was the second consecutive for the Lady Foothillers, who won last years’ Division II title.
Granite Hills had entered Saturday’s CIF championship game riding the crest of a 12-match unbeaten streak (9-0-3).
The Lady Eagles advanced to this year’s championship game with a shootout tiebreaker win over eighth-seeded Westview in the quarterfinals and a 3-0 shutout win over fourth-seeded Scripps Ranch in the semifinals.
Granite Hills battled to a 1-1 overtime standoff against Westview before winning the tiebreaker 4-1 in penalty kicks from the mark. Senior Faith Allen scored for Granite Hills in the first half, assisted by senior Naomi Ellis. Vance stopped two penalty kicks in the game.
Seniors Ciara May-Horn, Hailey Snyder and Allen all scored goals in the win over Scripps Ranch.
May-Horn led the Lady Eagles in season scoring with 18 goals.