The Harbor Teacher Monarchs girls’ soccer team became division V City Section Champions last month. This is their second consecutive title. The monarchs defeated the Community Charter Titans (18-5-3 overall) 4-0 in the title match-up.
“I think that the finals game was the hardest one,” said senior Brianna Eure. “That’s the best we’ve ever played as a team.”
Harbor Teacher advanced to the Southern California Regional competitions and lost to The Webb Schools Gauls in the first round after going into double overtime.
“I was watching some of the girls starting to crack on both sides of the field,” said Varsity Coach Mike Asfall. “That attributed to the fact that we didn’t finish out penalty shots with the best of our ability.”
Harbor Teacher played Community Charter in the preseason, beating the Titans 2-0, according to Max Preps. Although the Monarchs were confident they could earn the city title, they did not underestimate Community Charter.
“They came back way better than the last time that we had played them and we came back better as a team too,” said Eure. “It was like a fair competition because they were still very hard.”
Player Claudia Mordueron remembers the rigor of Community Charter during the 2014-2015 season. To junior captain Mayela Medina, the monarchs started the game stronger than the Titans.
“We all came mentally prepared in my opinion,” Medina said. “I feel like we were expecting them to come out stronger.”
Senior captain Andrea Aldama thought the Monarchs’ semifinal match against the USC-CAE Trojans (12-1-1 overall) was their most challenging.
“They got the first goal in and it was like a pretty early goal that they got in,” said Aldama. “Once we tied the game, we gained the momentum.”
Their first playoff game was against the Discovery Warriors (4-11-1 overall), the Monarchs began to get nervous early on in the game. Usually Harbor Teacher scored early in their matches, but Discovery would not allow them.
“This game, they were playing really physical and we just couldn’t get one in,” said Aldama.
The wMonarchs denied the Warriors from scoring in their 6-0 victory. Harbor Teacher finished second in the Crosstown League.
