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Long Beach Poly Millikan Soccer

Soccer: Long Beach Poly Celebrates Moore League After Win at Millikan

The562’s coverage of high school soccer is sponsored by Long Beach FC.

The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.

For the Long Beach Poly girls’ soccer team, the fourth time was the charm. The Jackrabbits squad is loaded with seniors, with just four underclassmen suiting up–each of the last three years, those seniors have seen their Moore League title hopes end on the road at Millikan in a loss. This year, though, a talented group of veteran players were able to overcome the Rams at DeHaven Stadium. They all but clinched their first Moore League championship since 2016 with a 2-0 victory over two-time defending champ Millikan. (Poly has just two league games remaining, both against Compton.)

“I came in here my freshman year on varsity, and we haven’t won one time at Millikan,” said senior co-captain Katana Van Deusen. “We’ve gotten so close. We’ve gotten our ties and everything–this is the first time we finally put it away. It’s so hard to put into words how hard we worked for this moment…I just can’t put it into words because I love it so much.”

The two teams played high-quality, scoreless soccer for the first half, with neither team getting many quality chances due to elite defensive play from both sides. Poly’s back line features San Jose State commit Sydney Santos and CSUN commit Alex Valente as well as senior goalie Caitlyn Jung.

“We’re ready for everything and I’m proud of my back line,” said Valente. “We’ve been keeping it locked down. I’m ready for anything physical that comes my way–I call myself a wall. I’m ready for anything.”

For Millikan, junior sweeper Savannah Galvan (a UCSB commit) was doing a great job of controlling Poly’s attack in the run of play–meanwhile Poly’s deep bombs from Washington State commit Aaya McLyn were all sailing high.

The game grew more and more physical in the second half, with the officials letting them play, which certainly was an advantage to the more veteran Jackrabbit squad. Millikan had two shots in the first five minutes of the second half, both deflected by Poly defenders, and in the 63rd minute the Jackrabbits finally broke through.

After McLyn won a ball in the midfield, Santos took it down the left wing and played it up to Makayla Quesada, whose cross sent the ball skipping across the top of the box. Leah Salas was unable to handle it, but her touch ended up perfectly setting up Andra Greeer, who controlled it with her right foot, then put it into the far-side netting with her left, setting off a big Poly celebration.

“I took a touch with my right and then I just hit it with my left to the far side and watched it go in,” she said. “It was perfect. We’ve all worked so hard. After every game our coaches ask us how much do we want this? And we really wanted it.”

Millikan immediately answered with a barrage of threats pushing forward, each of which were turned away by Poly’s back line or by Jung, who had two critical saves on hard shots on goal. The Jackrabbits gave themselves some breathing room 10 minutes later, as Quesada crossed it to McLyn and she bombed one home from 30 yards out to give the Jackrabbits the 2-0 lead, and set the sideline percolating with excitement on a chilly night.

“She laid it off, the perfect ball, and I looked up and the goal was just wide open. It’s insane, it’s insane,” said McLyn. “They’ve been reigning champs for so long, and to be the first team, our team of seniors, to beat them on their home field to win Moore League is amazing. We’ve worked so hard to be in this moment, and to leave everything on the field with this team and leave as champions is amazing.”

As the game’s final seconds ticked off, the Poly bench began jumping up and down, and then exploded onto the field to celebrate the momentous win with their teammates. It was clear how much the win (and the likely title) meant to the close-knit group of seniors.

“Everything, it meant everything to these girls,” said first-year Poly coach Angel Zavala. Along with assistant coach Imani McDonald (a Poly and Long Beach State alum), Zavala helped bring Poly back to the top of the standings for the first time in nearly a decade.

“I think both of us being alumni, we know the fight, the hunger, the drive you have to have,” said Zavala. “The chemistry is there, the hunger is there, and the determination is there. I’m super proud of them–they earned all of this.”

Santos said that after Poly’s 4-1 win over Wilson, the Jackrabbits were brimming with confidence.

“We definitely were very confident coming in that we were going to get this win,” she said. “That was by far the best game that we’ve ever played–maybe not tactically, but in terms of enjoying it. It took four years and it’s the last game, and I guess we had to save the dramatics for this game.”

Millikan has been a more than worthy dynasty atop the Moore League, with five of the last six league titles. With Galvan, Isabella Nunez, Alexandra Rios, and the bulk of their team back, the Rams will certainly be the favorites again next year. But Poly’s players said they knew this was their year to unseat Millikan.

“I’ve loved all my teammates over the years, but something I realized about this group this year is we wanted it so bad, we pushed so hard,” said Van Deusen. “We’ve known we were strong from the beginning, it was just about being able to put home those goals. And what put this team apart from every other one is our tenacity to go get it. We just wanted this so bad.”

Teams will wrap up league play next week with CIF-SS brackets set to be released on Feb. 8 and playoffs to follow the week after that.

Mike Guardabascio
An LBC native, Mike Guardabascio has been covering Long Beach sports professionally for 13 years, with his work published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous awards for his writing as well as the CIF Southern Section’s Champion For Character Award, and is the author of three books about Long Beach history.
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