The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The Lakewood boys’ soccer and girls’ basketball teams made school history with deep CIF playoffs runs, but that success didn’t just start this year. Both programs have dedicated coaches who prioritized effort. That helped develop strong groups of upperclassmen who used their experience to excel in the playoffs.
Boys’ soccer coach Alex Diaz had his team playing the perfect type of high-pressure style in the Division 4 playoffs. The Lancers smothered their opponents and reached their first CIF championship game since 1985.
“I have no words, this is an amazing feeling,” Diaz said after the semifinal victory at home. “This group is different. I don’t know what it is but it makes my job easy. They just put it on themselves, this is their goal so it’s all been since summer with not one complaint or one guy missing training at 6:30 in the morning.”
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Sophomore striker Michael Gutierrez led the offensive charge and scored five goals in five CIF-SS playoff games. Unfortunately, Lakewood lost to Etiwanda in penalty kicks in the championship game. But the Lancers also qualified for the CIF SoCal Regional tournament for the first time and reached the final where they lost to Oceanside.
Girls’ basketball coach Eric Oswell let his experienced duo of Nyemah King and Cristina Jones take the reins and lead the Lancers to its first ever CIF-SS semifinals and championship game appearances. They lost in the championship but also qualified for their first ever CIF State playoffs.
King and Jones were scoring at will early in the playoffs while Lakewood outscored its first two postseason opponents by a combined score of 126-81. In the semifinals, King scored 28 points and Jones scored 25 points.
