Division 4
Seeded teams
1. Serrano (20-1)
2. La Mirada (20-2)
3. Alemany (17-1-3)
4. Arcadia (19-0-1)
County representatives: Sage Hill, St. Margaret’s, Crean Lutheran
Rapid reaction: The small schools of the Academy League find themselves in a division with some of the big boys in Southern California, so we’ll see right out of the gate how they stack up against the competition.
Sage Hill went unbeaten in league play and has actually reeled off 13 straight wins dating back to late December. And how’s this for a stat: the Lightning have outscored its opponents 75-0 over its current win streak. That’s an absurd number and just unheard of in soccer. Junior forward Lexi Magliarditi has torched every squad she’s played this season, making headlines in January with her nine-goal showing in a win over Calvary Chapel of Downey. Can she keep up such a torrid pace in the postseason?
In reality, the only team that has challenged Sage Hill since the start of January is St. Margaret’s, the Academy League’s second place finisher. The Tartans have championship pedigree on its side, as they went from wild-card entrant in 2014 to the eventual Division 5 champs. Johnny Marmelstein’s club boasts nine starters from that squad, so we’ll see how much last year’s experience pays off this go-round.
Serrano and La Mirada, the division’s top seeded teams, are the prohibitive favorites. The Diamondbacks finished as the Division 4 runner-up in 2014, while the Matadores were actually the division’s No. 1 overall seed a season ago.
