Pacifica Christian girls soccer team advances to semifinals of tourney at Great Park

Freshman forward Lana Stewart advances the ball for Pacifica Christian. (Photo courtesy Pacifica Christian Athletics).

Pacifica Christian High School’s girls soccer team is off to a solid start in the Best of the West Soccer Showcase, which took place Saturday and will continue next Saturday, Dec. 17.

The Tritons, ranked No. 4 in the latest CIF Division 5 poll, opened group play with a 1-1 draw against Schurr High School, a top five team in their division.

Pacifica Christian then took on St. Anthony’s High School defeating the Saints 6-0 to win the group and advance to the semi-finals next weekend vs. San Pedro.

Freshman stand-out Lana Stewart led the Tritons in goals, scoring four goals in two games to bring her total to 19 goals in the season.

The Tritons (7-1-2) were down four starters going into the weekend, as well as dealing with a handful of injuries that had some players limited on playing time.

Pacifica Christian was also anchored in midfield by the exceptional play of juniors Bella Phelps, Maggie Contreras and captain Chloe Nguyen, who were a consistent threat on both sides of the ball. Six lower classmen saw significant minutes to contribute to the Tritons’ success. 

“This weekend was a team effort,” said Coach Brandon Gonzalez. “We were down four starters, three of them upperclassmen, so we really relied on our freshmen and sophomores to step up, and they did; so proud of their hard work this weekend.”

Pacifica Christian has its first league match-up of the year on Thursday, Dec. 15, when it travels to take on Fairmont Prep at the Orange County Great Park, field 13 at 2:45 pm.