Inside the VALT: February 3-9

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Colin Beazley, Staff Writer

           The Winter Season was completed last week, with the last regular season games for both Soccer teams and both Basketball teams. The Girls Basketball and Girls Soccer teams advanced to postseason play, each starting the playoffs on the road on Thursday, against Fountain Valley and Arcadia, respectively. Good luck to both teams, and good luck to all the Spring Season teams beginning their seasons this week!

Girls Soccer

            The Girls Soccer team wrapped up the regular season with a 1-1 draw against Windward, finishing in third place in the Gold Coast League with a 8-4-6 record. KaiLan Mackey (’20) scored the sole goal, clinching a successful Senior Day for the team. The team advanced to CIF Playoffs, taking part in the Division 4 Bracket, and beginning the postseason Thursday on the road against Arcadia. The game kicks off at 3:00 PM. Arcadia comes into the game with a 15-3-4 record, finishing first in the Pacific League. According to Maxpreps, Arcadia is 7th in Division 4, while the Patriots are in 9th, so the game should be very competitive. The winner will advance to face Cerritos or North Torrance on Saturday, so good luck to the Pats!

Boys Soccer

            The Boys Soccer team finished our season on Tuesday, losing 4-2 against Windward. Senior RL Spivak scored both goals in his last game for Viewpoint. As a whole, the season didn’t have the results we hoped for, but we can be proud of our effort and the progress we made. RL was our leading scorer with nine, including a memorable hat trick against Villanova Prep. Senior Eric Gunnarsson and junior Max James tied for second on the team, scoring four goals apiece. The team will struggle to replace eight seniors, but many key pieces and a strong culture are in place for a successful season next year.

Girls Basketball

            The Girls Basketball team completed their regular season with an incredible game, ending up 59-58 victors in overtime against Crossroads. Freshman Karlee White put the team on her back in the final minute and a half, scoring seven straight, including the buzzer beating layup, to clinch the victory and a playoff berth for the Patriots. Fellow sophomore Kayla Keshmeshian hit a number of crucial free throws at the end of regulation to push the game to overtime. The team begins the Division 3A Postseason on Thursday night on the road against Fountain Valley, with tipoff at 7:00 PM. A victory over the Barons would mean a Saturday night clash with the winner of Riverside Poly and Rosemead. Good luck in playoffs to the Patriots!

Boys Basketball

            The Boys Basketball team completed their season on Friday night, coming up short on the road against Crossroads. There was still hope of an at-large berth for playoffs though, but when the brackets came out, the Patriots were on the outside looking in, despite consistently appearing near the top of the Coaches Poll for the division. This decision comes largely as a consequence for playing in such a talented league, against some of the best teams in the state, and there was notable public outcry against the decision. Despite the lack of postseason play, this was an excellent season for the team, winning 14 games with an impressively young team. The future’s bright for this team, as the core is only getting better.

Equestrian

            The Equestrian team competed in their third IEL meet of the season over the weekend at Hansen Dam, but results are not finalized and published in time for this piece. Regardless, congratulations to our team on yet another successful competition!

            The Spring Season gets under way this week, with the first competitions for a few of our teams. Baseball begins with an 11:00 Opening Day game against Channel Islands High School in Oxnard, while Softball starts with a doubleheader at Carpinteria High School, against Oak Park and Carpinteria. The Track and Field season begins as well with the Santa Monica All-Comers Meet, taking place Saturday at Santa Monica High School. Full season previews will come next week for all the Spring teams, but good luck to everyone beginning their seasons!