Photos by Steve Galluzzo
St. Matthew’s Boys Basketball and Girls Soccer Teams Capture Pacific Basin Titles on Same Day at Crossroads
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
As the clock ticked under 10 minutes in the second half of last Friday afternoon’s Pacific Basin League girls soccer championship game, St. Matthew’s needed someone—anyone—to step up and break the tie against top-seeded Archer School for Girls.
That’s when Lucy Bowden sent a corner kick curving toward the Panthers’ net for teammate Jasie Belden, whose right-footed volley from the corner gave the second-seeded Falcons a 2-1 lead and got the fans cheering.
The final frenzied minutes passed without any more scoring and St. Matthew’s celebrated its first girls soccer title since defeating Windward by the same score in 2014. Two years later, the Falcons lost to Windward on penalty kicks, but this time they were not to be denied despite falling behind 1-0 on a breakaway goal by Palisadian Cate Childers. Archer’s roster also featured another Palisadian, Julia Citron.
Bowden tied it 1-1 on a penalty kick inside the right post 10 minutes later and both teams traded quality chances until Belden’s game-winner late.
St. Matthew’s defeated Crossroads 5-1 in the quarterfinals and Geffen 3-1 in the semifinals to set up the championship showdown at Norton Field on the Crossroads School campus in Santa Monica.
Coached by Rob Risley and Sara McGinnis, the team included eighth-graders Belden, Bowden, Sophie Gilford, Lindsey Laurence, Ava Ozbolt, Elena Roby, Morgan Richards, Jessie Silletti, Riley Sullivan and Riley Vincent, along with seventh-graders Emily Doble, Ruby Elliott, Hope Hudson Morcomb, Audrey Kinnear, Milla Klostermann, Kaitlin Lazenby, Kiki McKenzie, Georgia Miller, Sophie Miller, Asher Rawlins, Devon Sullivan, Kate Sullivan, Emma Wuchenich and Lidya Yirgu.
When the trophy presentation was finished the girls ran into the gym next to the field just in time to catch the end of the St. Matthew’s boys A Division basketball team’s 41-32 triumph over St. Paul for the school’s first hoops title since 2009. Afterwards the soccer and basketball teams took a group photo on the court.
St. Matthew’s started fast, opening an 8-3 advantage, and led 10-5 after the first quarter. The Swordsmen outscored St. Matthew’s 11-10 in the second quarter to pull to within 20-16 at intermission and went on to tie the contest in the third quarter.
The top-seeded Falcons were clinging to a 33-32 with under two minutes left before a block by Jorge Lazenby, a steal by Max Stern and eight straight points by Parker Turner and Cooper Casola clinched the victory. Turner led the way with 23 points (including three 3-pointers), Casola had 12 (with three 3-pointers), Stern had four and Lazenby added two.
The 7th- and 8th-grade squad advanced to the championship game with playoff victories over Westside Neighborhood School (50-39) and Willows (46-26). St. Matthew’s defeated St. Paul in regular season play.
Coached by Tim Whiteman and Reynaldo Macias, the Falcons consisted of Lazenby, Turner, Stern, Casola, Lyric Walker, Dominic Boccella, Henry Mariscal, Christian Massey, Dom Munakash, Gabe Nissen, Boyer Tooley and Thomas Wynperle.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
