Holding down the top spot in the county rankings since Day One, Aliso Niguel was the county’s lone team awarded a No. 1 seed in the CIF-SS girls soccer playoffs.
The Wolverines earned the seed in a loaded Division 1 bracket that includes Huntington Beach as the No. 2 seed and Foothill as the No. 4 seed.
Because they are the top-two teams in the division, the South Coast and Sunset League champs will receive byes in the first round.
“Having a bye is a big deal,” Aliso coach Randy Dodge said. “We completely get out of the first round and that’s huge because, what people don’t realize is, CIF championships are won in the second round and the quarters.
“You’re playing two games in a 48-hour period, and the mental and physical toll it takes on these girls is real.”
Seventeen county schools are part of the 29-team Division 1 bracket, setting the stage for a number of high-profile, first-round matches.
Santa Margarita, the defending CIF champion, will host Esperanza, the Excalibur Tournament runner-up, on Thursday afternoon. Mater Dei also drew a tough opening-round opponent in Los Alamitos, the No. 3 representative from the loaded Sunset League.
“Orange County is good enough to get at least one team into the final,” Dodge said. “They could get two.
“I look at Laguna Hills to make a good little run at it. Foothill could make a run at it. And on the bottom half, there’s Canyon and you’ve got Huntington Beach. They’ve played a lot of grind-it-out games. And if it came down to PKs, they’ve got a great keeper.”
In Division 2, Troy is the No. 3 seed after going 10-0 in the Freeway League.
Cypress was awarded No. 3 seed in Division 3 after a 10-0 Empire League clip.
The wild-card round matches are today, and first-round play begins Thursday. Championship matches for all seven divisions will be held March 6 and 7.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
