After finishing 5th in the SCVAL-De Anza League last year, the Los Altos varsity girls soccer team has ended their 2026 season with a bang with a CCS quarterfinals qualification.
“Overall with how we played all season and how the girls responded to some of the adversity, the season overall was a success for sure,” head coach Jacob Valadez said.
Then, at the CCS Division I Championships this February, the team ended their season with a quarterfinal loss toArchbishop Mitty, battling to the very end. After tying 0–0 in regulation time, and no goals scored during overtime, the game ended with a penalty shootout, with Los Altos losing 4–3.
“It always feels worse in the moment to lose at the last minute because we felt so close,” Valadez said. “But I hope the girls just feel really proud that they even got to that point.”
The journey to get to CCS started all the way back with a string of successes for the Eagles in the preseason, where they won four games in a row for a preseason tournament victory, followed a few weeks later by a 1–0 rivalry win against Mountain View.
“We were just able to play really well together,” senior captain Neda Abedi said. “You would tell, when we were playing, that we have a great connection and we’re a really close team.”
But the season wasn’t without its challenges. Towards the end of the season, the Eagles experienced a number of challenging games, with a 2–1 loss in their second matchup against Mountain View, followed by a 2–1 losses against Homestead and Palo Alto, teams they had beaten earlier in the season.
“Towards the end of the season, you get more tired as you play more teams,” Neda said. “But as a group, it was a good reset for us. We realized, ‘Ok these things aren’t working, so how are we going to bounce back from these losses so that we can continue to meet our goals?’”
Despite this, their success in the preseason, combined with a solid De Anza League record, led the Eagles to a 12–8 overall record and 7–5 league record, securing them third place in the league and a CCS Division I playoff spot.
“At the start of the season, we set the goals to finish top three in league and make the highest division of CCS,” Neda said. “Obviously, it would have been nice to go further and win it all, especially for our senior year, but we played a really good game against Mitty.”
After a season of building hope for their first CCS game, the day finally arrived on Saturday February 21.
“Going into the game we were nervous and excited because we knew that Mitty was a really good team,” freshman Ruby Gibson said. “But we knew based on the outcomes of past games that we’d be pretty evenly matched.”
The play started out slow for the Eagles, but once the second half began, it was about confidence to keep the Monarchs from getting a clear scoring opportunity and the team barely missed a few chances to score themselves.
After no goals being scored during overtime, the game ended in penalty kicks, where the Monarchs took the 4–3 victory. Despite the loss, the team looks back on the season as a success.
“This year was a great way to end our career here at Los Altos,” senior Parisa Abedi said. “Even though we didn’t win it all, we walked out of every game knowing we played our best and our hardest, and that’s just the goal.”
The underclassmen-heavy roster leaves the team hopeful for more success in seasons to come.
“Seven of our seniors are graduating, so there’s some space for people who either didn’t start this year or some JV players to find some time as well,” Valadez said. “But I think we’re in a good spot because the core of our group is still together, so I think we’re going to be very competitive next year.”
