Sacred Heart Prep Boys Shock Prospect in CCS Soccer

By Glenn Reeves/Palo Alto Online Sports
Sacred Heart Prep 1, Prospect 0
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The Sacred Heart Prep boys soccer team pulled off a shocker.

The Gators, seeded No. 16 in the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs, went on the road Wednesday and knocked off No. 1 seed Prospect 1-0.

SHP will play at No. 8 Hillsdale, a 1-0 winner over Sacred Heart Cathedral, in the Division II quarterfinals on Saturday.

“Now it’s a whole new season,’’ SHP coach Armando Del Rio said. “We’ve upset a No. 1 seed before, but that was as a No. 8 seed. This was definitely our biggest upset in CCS.’’

The only goal of the match was scored 11 minutes in when Connor Johnston headed a ball into the net.

“Brock (Salzman) beat his man and put a great ball into the box,’’ Johnston said. “I sprinted ahead of the defender to get my head on the ball.’’

The Gators (11-7-1) turned matters over to their defense, which made the goal stand up.

“I knew going in (Prospect) would have most of the play on the ball due to their attacking ability and that we’d spend most of the match on defense,,’’ Del Rio said. “Still our expectation was that we’d win.’’

Prospect (12-5-4) was relentless on the attack throughout the second half but Sacred Heart Prep’s defense was up to the challenge. The backline defenders -- Juan Rascon, Salzman, Kevin Box and Liam Johnson -- turned in a terrific performance.

“Playing the No. 1 seed we knew it was going to be difficult,’’ Johnson said. “But after a whole season playing together we’ve built our chemistry. We didn’t give up any room for them to exploit. We knew we needed to stay compact so they couldn’t play those long balls.’’

Prospect was the CCS Division II co-champion a year ago when it tied Sacred Heart Cathedral in the final.

This year the Panthers came in as a No. 1 seed but had their post-season ended after one match by a lightly-regarded No. 16 seed equipped with a tenacious defense.

Sacred Heart Prep is no stranger to having success in CCS. The Gators have won eight CCS championships, but only one (in 2013) since 2006.

“Last year was a rebuilding year,’’ Del Rio said. “This year we had some injuries and at times we were inconsistent.’’

But defense was a strength. The Gators allowed only 12 goals in 12 WBAL games. And on Wednesday the defense came up big.
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Sacred Heart Schools Atherton

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

150 Valparaiso Ave
Atherton, CA 94027
650 322 1866
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12