Peter Stogsdill had to wait. In a way, that made it even more worthwhile.
Westview High School’s girls soccer coach had been sitting at 499 career for nearly two weeks after losing his final two regular-season games.
That all changed Wednesday, when the sixth-seeded Wolverines put together a 2-1 win over No. 11 Granite Hills in the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 playoffs.
The victory was the 500th of the coach’s career. Stogsdill will get a chance to win at least one more: the Wolverines move on to the Division 1 quarterfinals, where they’ll face No. 3 San Dieguito Academy at 5 p.m. Friday.
“It’s more for the kids,” said Stogsdill, who joins three other San Diego girls soccer coaches to log 500 career wins. “We’ve worked all season. It’s been one where we struggled to (win). We’ve had seven ties, so every game is like this. I’m proud of them for really stepping up and finding a way.
“Five hundred wins is just having a chance to coach a lot of really good kids over a long period of time. This is a great group, and I’m happy for them that they got the win.”
After being held scoreless over its last two games, Westview (6-6-7) got started early. Sophomore Ally Damron scored both of her team’s goals in the first half.
In the 13th minute, Westview took advantage of a free kick just outside the penalty box on the right side of the arc, setting the sophomore. With her teammates lined up on the other side of the box, Damron used her left foot to sneak the ball inside the upper right portion of the net to score.
“We had a game where I had to take a free kick, and I lofted it,” said Damron, who scored two goals all season. “So (Coach) Peter’s like, ‘Just shoot it so hard, don’t loft it.’ So, I just used all my power.”
Then, in the 37th minute, Damron — who is normally a defender — got an assist from junior midfielder Elle McMurrey.
The sophomore fielded the ball on the left side of the penalty box, took one dribble and found the bottom-right part of the goal to double Westview’s lead.
Stogsdill praised like Damron and McMurrey, who he said are both able to adjust no matter what position they play.
“Elle McMurrey got the assist, another girl who doesn’t quite typically play forward,” Stogsdill said. “But seeing Ally running behind and getting on it was great and a great finish. It was really good to see her with that conclusion and finishing.
“We’ve been trying to work on getting behind defenses instead of settling for shots in front of the defense.”
Coming out of the half, Granite Hills (6-12-4) put more pressure, leading to a goal from junior Brooklyn Spencer, who faked left, went right to receive the ball and scored 10 minutes in.