PAL Bay Girls Soccer Race Set for Thrilling Finale

Burlingame High’s Phillip De Rosa, the dean of Peninsula Athletic League girls soccer coaches at 13 years, has never seen a league title as hotly contested as the PAL Bay Division’s is this year.

With two games remaining, Burlingame, San Mateo and Woodside enter this afternoon’s action in a three-way tie atop the league with 25 points, and Aragon lurks one point back.

“It’s amazing. The teams can either end up in first (place) or fourth with a blink of the eye. It is crazy,” said De Rosa, whose Panthers have finished either first or second in five of the past six years. “Clearly this can go any way.”

Added Aragon coach Will Colglazier: “This is definitely the best league in (the Central Coast Section) – public or private. You can’t take anybody for granted.”

San Mateo (10-4-2, 8-3-1 PAL Bay), which was in control before losses to Aragon and Burlingame last week, remains in a great position. The Bearcats, attempting to follow their PAL Ocean Division crown last year with a Bay championship, do not have to face any of the other title challengers in the final week – they visit Terra Nova today and host Carlmont on Thursday.

The other league leaders, Burlingame (10-3-4, 7-1-4) and Woodside (11-5-1, 8-3-1), face each other in their season finale – a showdown (at Burlingame on Thursday at 4 p.m.) between the teams that have combined to win the past three PAL Bay titles.

But neither team can overlook the team it faces today. Burlingame visits hard-charging Carlmont, while defending-champion Woodside hosts dangerous Menlo-Atherton.

Meanwhile, Aragon (11-2-5, 7-2-3) vaulted itself into contention with a seven-game win streak, but then lost its opportunity to take over sole possession of first place with a 2-2 draw against Carlmont last Thursday. Knowing that his team doesn’t control its own fate in the race for the championship, Colglazier wants to make sure his Dons are on top of their game with the Central Coast Section playoffs a week away.

“Now at this point, we’re kind of focused on playing well. We didn’t play well against Carlmont,” said Colglazier, highlighting defending the counterattack as a main goal.

The top three PAL Bay finishers earn an automatic berth into the CCS playoffs. And the league’s fourth-place team seems all but guaranteed an at-large berth.

PERIMETER ASSAULT

When San Mateo’s Grayce Ujihara drilled 10 3-pointers in a 39-point masterpiece against Terra Nova on Feb. 4, the senior guard broke a San Mateo County single-game record. And the previous record holder couldn’t have been happier (and couldn’t have offered congratulations any quicker) … because Ujihara topped the mark of her own coach.

San Mateo coach Nancy Dinges, a former Hillsdale High standout, established the old record of nine 3-pointers as sophomore in 1998 and then matched it in 2000.

“I was ecstatic,” Dinges said of Ujihara’s night for the ages, which came in a 79-66 loss to PAL Bay champion Terra Nova. “To have a girl like Grayce break my record, she’s one of the hardest workers I know – great student, great athlete. To have one of my own players break my record, it’s a great feeling I got.”

Ujihara, a four-year player, is one of five stalwart seniors on a team that finished third in the PAL Bay at 6-4. Dinges says the Bearcats have benefited greatly from the experience of that core.

Stephanie Okimura, Jackie Salazar and Ujihara have been with Dinges for each of the coach’s three years with the program. Fellow seniors Alexis Okasinski and Lourdes Perez are second-year players.

“They’re really clicking as a team,” Dinges said. “They trust each other on the court.”

San Mateo earned a bye into the quarterfinal round of this week’s PAL tournament, and the Bearcats will host their first tournament game on Thursday at 7 p.m. Potential opponents include Aragon (sixth in the PAL Bay), Hillsdale (second in the PAL Lake) and South San Francisco (fifth in the PAL Ocean).

The Bearcats own two wins over Aragon and one over Hillsdale – none by less than 18 points. Should San Mateo advance, showdowns would likely loom against Mills and Terra Nova – teams against which the Bearcats are a combined 0-4.

“We’re going to see teams we’ve seen before,” Dinges cautioned. “We can’t take any team lightly.”

MAKE OR BREAK

The stakes couldn’t be higher when the Hillsdale boys soccer team visits Half Moon Bay on Wednesday in a PAL Ocean Division finale.

The winner will claim the league title and resulting berth in the CCS playoffs. The loser will be on the outside looking in.

Hillsdale (13-4-2, 10-2-1 PAL Ocean) enters the game in second place, one point back of Half Moon Bay. That means a tie would leave Half Moon Bay alone in first – so the Knights need a win to vault the Cougars.

“It’s like a playoff game. If you win, you go on to the next game. If you lose, you go home,” said Hillsdale coach Andy Hodzic, whose team tied Half Moon Bay 2-2 in their first meeting on Jan. 26. “It’s a great opportunity for the kids.”

Generally, the second-place finisher in the PAL Ocean lacks sufficient power points to gain an at-large CCS bid, meaning both teams’ postseason chances are on the line in the regular-season finale.