At 17-3 and 8-0 in Avocado League play, the San Dieguito Academy girls soccer team has been on cruise control since its 6-1 season-opening win over Scripps Ranch in December.
For Mustangs head coach Siggy Eyre, however, easy regular season wins mean challenging postseason games as the talent gap levels off.
“It’s been a great season with a great group of kids,” Eyre told The Coast News.
“What worries me…,” she said before reconsidering her choice of words. “…I think we are at a disadvantage to Poway and Scripps because we are in a league where we aren’t getting challenged. We have all the tools we need to go on a run; our results are good. But, are we prepared physically and mentally going into a harder match in the playoffs?”
The other challenge for SDA — ranked in the California top 100 by Max Preps — is the impact the strength of schedule could have on CIF seeding.
“Because of our league, the way the power rankings are done, we get less points for winning a game than some of our competitors get for losing games,” said Eyre, now in her fifteenth year at SDA.
For much of the season, the approach has been using games against lower-tier competition as extended training sessions.
“We talk a lot about bad habits you can develop against a lower-level team,” Eyre said. “You can take simple mistakes for granted, because if you lose the ball, it’s easy to get it back. A mistake against a competitive team means you often give up a goal or a corner kick. It’s trying to fine tune the technical game; not turning the ball over because we are lazy.”
Eyre cited a lack of focus in early season losses to San Marcos, Point Loma and Mt. Carmel.
“We lost 1-0 against Point Loma,” she said. “We put 25 shots on them and they had one opportunity on us and it was a corner kick in the last three minutes of the game and they scored. We should have won that game. They did everything right but that’s a good reminder it just takes one corner kick to even up the playing field.”
Outscoring opponents 67-13 heading into the final three regular season games, an organized team defense and a deep bench have been strengths for the Mustangs.
With 26 players on the roster, 23 have contributed to the stat book with an assist or goal.
“My goal for the league season was to get a clean sheet,” Eyre said. “We didn’t get that which was super disappointing. It took me a weekend to get over that.”
Mustangs senior center midfielder and University of Arizona commit Thaleia Tsintikidou leads the team with 10 goals and five assists.
“For the amount of work she does you don’t see it on paper,” Eyre said. “She’s that player that makes everybody else better. She creates so much opportunity.”
Senior wing Sienna Balardeta has also chipped in with five assists.
Stylistically, the Mustangs like to play it out of the back, with center backs Brooke Stealey and Makena Howard as complementary yet contrasting pieces.
“Brooke is so composed, clean and consistent,” Eyre said. “She will always show up and play a solid game.”
“Makena is a little less composed and clean technically,” Eyre added. “But, she is so athletic and so fast and brings such a physical presence. Both of them know when to attack and when to tuck in. They tactically know the game.”
Senior keeper Ella Kruntchev has had the luxury of an idle regular season, with shots on goal coming few and far between. In the postseason, that will change.
Keeping Kruntchev engaged has been Eyre’s top priority.
“If we go up several goals, every time we make a mistake, no matter where we are on the field, we restart with the keeper,” she said. “It makes them more accountable for their mistakes. It also keeps the defense and the goalkeeper connected to the play. We can work on her distribution. We keep [Kruntchev] involved no matter what the score is, so she is switching the field and changing the point of attack – keeping her involved physically and verbally.”
Following an away game at Vista, SDA closes the regular season against El Camino on Valentine’s Day. The CIF San Diego Section playoffs run through March 1.
In program history, San Dieguito girls’ soccer has won five section championships, with the most recent — a 1-0 victory over Montgomery — in 2017.
