In a glorious turn of events, the varsity girls soccer team has done the completely unexpected–it claimed the CCS championship title. The Eagles upset a chain of rivals before defeating the second-seed team Saint Francis High School in the CCS Finals at Valley Christian High School today, March 2. Despite not qualifying for CCS last year, the Eagles rose to the challenge magnificently, scoring a 1-0 win against Saint Francis, who had previously defeated Burlingame High School 4-0 in the semifinals.

“I feel extremely proud of everyone,” senior Audrey Mays said. “A lot of people doubted us throughout the entire season, from league through CCS. But we never gave up, and our defense all over the field was our greatest strength.”

The game played out very similarly to the Eagles’ game in the CCS Semifinals against Archbishop Mitty High School. The Eagles took an early lead with a well-placed free kick by sophomore Allie Crum, and relied on strong defense to maintain the lead. However, the Saint Francis Lancers were not willing to go down without a fight. Time and time again, the Lancers attempted to penetrate the Eagles’ defense, which held and fended off the Lancers’ attacks.

“They have so many good players that know the game, and they had chances but couldn’t capitalize,” Audrey said. “They definitely gave us trouble in the back and were very fast and aggressive.”

Overall, both teams pitted their respective strategies against each other. Saint Francis used its aggressive playing style in attempt to break through the Eagles’ defense, but Los Altos managed to maintain its defensive playing style and prevent the Lancers from scoring a single goal. In the end, the Eagles’ playing style proved to be superior, enabling the Eagles to clinch their first CCS Championship since 2007.

“It’s awesome to win CCS especially after a tough past few seasons where we were struggling to just stay in the De Anza League,” Audrey said.