La Jolla High School came oh so close to a clean sweep of the trio of championship games it was involved in over the weekend, but the Vikings faithful will need to settle for two out of three after winning titles in girls water polo and boys soccer and a narrow defeat in girls soccer.
Girls water polo
The Vikings are the CIF Southern California Regional Division II girls water polo champions for the second time in five years.
Juniors Cora Pfau and Avery Edstrom each scored four goals to help the top-seeded Vikings beat No. 2 La Serna of Whitter 13-9 in the final Feb. 28 at Long Beach City College.
Neither team led by more than a goal until Stella Tezcan and Edstrom put together back-to-back scores for La Jolla to build a 9-7 halftime edge.
The Vikings extended their lead to 13-9 before a scoreless fourth quarter.
“Our fitness paid off,” La Jolla coach Tom Atwell said. “We were the faster team, and as the game wore on, we wore them down with our counterattack.”
Tezcan finished with three goals for the Vikings.
“Our girls really developed as a group this season,” Atwell said. “We melted together as the season went on, and we never really plateaued. We just kept getting better. Also, our team defense drove us the whole year.”
La Jolla made the regionals in Division II after losing in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division semifinals. From there, they routed Glendora and Carlsbad in the SoCal tournament before defeating La Serna.
Boys soccer
La Jolla, the third seed in the CIF San Diego Section Division IV playoffs, edged No. 9 Mira Mesa in penalty kicks to break a 1-1 tie and capture the division title Feb. 27 at Orange Glen High School in Escondido.
Marco Lopez’s kick proved to be the difference as the Vikings won the shootout 4-3.
Every goal in the game came on penalty kicks. Paul Hoelsher gave La Jolla a 1-0 lead on a free kick, and Mira Mesa’s Adam Stege tied it later in regulation time. The teams then played a scoreless overtime before going to penalty kicks.
The Vikings got to the championship game by defeating Valley Center, Christian and Montgomery.
Girls soccer
No. 2 seed La Jolla and top-seeded Del Norte needed overtime to decide the San Diego Section Division II championship Feb. 28 at Montgomery High School in San Diego.
Del Norte’s Niharika Boyanapalli scored to give the school its first section title in 10 years with a 2-1 victory.
La Jolla, which defeated San Diego, West Hills and Mission Bay to reach the final, scored late to force overtime. Caroline Bruner tied it for the Vikings in the 71st minute on a free kick from 10 yards beyond the penalty box.
— Writers Glae Thien, Clark Fahrenthold and Breven Honda contributed to this report. ♦