Finishing off their season ranked 13th in the state and 32nd in the nation, varsity girls soccer pulled off the Open Division win against Academy of Our Lady of Peace, 1-0. After their close quarterfinal game, which they won 3-2 against Torrey Pines, the Lancers had a convincing win of 4-1 over West Hills.

The Open Division preparation began at the end of their last season where they lost in the quarterfinals to Steele Canyon. Coming off of an underwhelming finish helped to fuel their fire going into this years CIF Championships.

“It was exciting to be able to push through and be like alright we learned from last years mistakes so lets get through it this year,” junior Annie Flores.

With this year’s new Avocado West lineup, the Lancers still topped the league with a 9-0-1 record. The team defensively held all their opponents to only 2 goals while scoring 26 for the whole ten games. Their teamwork on both sides of the field helped push the team to their Open Division title.

“We all are really good friends on and off the field and I think that helped us a lot,” junior Taylor Wells said.

The final game was a close game, going into the second half the score was tied at 0-0. With a shot from sophomore Lexi Wright, the Lancers pulled away to win 1-0. Wright topped off her scoring with team leading 39 goals. Junior Marisa Bubnis had 19 assists to lead the team during the season.

“We just knew they were going to come out hard, AOLP is a really good team,” Flores said. “So we knew that we had to match up and do our best to control their players.”

Awarded the Player of the Year by San Diego Union Tribune, Wright helped lead her team to the finals. Coach of the Year was awarded to Coach Dean Balent, as he pulled the team together to finish out with a record of 23-5-1.

“It was really cool because it hasn’t happened in two years, so it was nice for it to be our team and our group of girls,” Flores said.