Boys soccer recap: Westminster, San Clemente soared

San Clemente had a record-breaking season, Westminster won an historic championship and three schools were rocked by forfeits.

This was not a typical boys soccer season.

That was certainly the case for Westminster. The last time the Lions won a league title was more than 30 years ago. When the CIF-SS announces the playoff pairings on Monday, the Lions should be rewarded with a first-round game at home.

After making a major revision in the lineup last month, the Lions won the first Golden West League championship in program history. Westminster's last boys soccer title came in 1982, when it was in the Sunset League.

In the Lions' first league game, Coach Josh Juarez moved Humberto Maziel, projected to be a top-scoring forward, to center back to shore up the defense.

"It paved the way for the strong season," Juarez said in an email.

San Clemente senior forward Gage Zerboni led the county in scoring for most of the season. He scored 25 goals for a San Clemente team that set a single-season school record with 78 goals.

The Tritons will be the No. 1 seed in CIF-SS Division 1 after winning all eight of their South Coast League games.

Sunny Hills had a chance to go undefeated in league, too, but the Lancers had to forfeit five league and six nonleague matches for using ineligible players. The Lancers went 4-0-1 in their past five games and clinched a playoff spot Friday.

Century and Sonora also had to forfeit games for using ineligible players. Century still managed to finish second in the Orange League.

Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com

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10 players who helped their teams the most during the regular season:

Alex Trejo, El Dorado

Mike Alvarez, La Habra

Andy Muniz, Anaheim

Jesus Ibarra, Kennedy

Adonis Robles, Westminster

Mario Guerrero, Saddleback

Dakoda Muta, Marina

Jorge Cardenas, Santiago

Jesse Gonzalez, Valencia

Mitchell Bell, Sunny Hills

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10 teams that exceeded our expectations during the regular season:

Santiago

Yorba Linda

Servite

El Dorado

Los Amigos

Villa Park

La Habra

Westminster

Godinez

Dana Hills

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10 players who could be postseason MVPs for their teams:

Gage Zerboni, San Clemente

Blayne Martinez, San Clemente

James Suri, El Toro

Ronaldo Pineda, Century

Jonathan Fabulich, JSerra

Gerardo Arias, Sunny Hills

Jeremy Cser, Yorba Linda

Sean Goode, Santa Margarita

Michael, Bryant, El Toro

Adrian Casillas, Santa Ana Valley

Danny Lopez, Godinez

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10 teams poised to make deep runs in the playoffs:

El Toro

San Clemente

Santa Margarita

JSerra

El Dorado

Century

Santa Ana Valley

Valencia

La Habra

Sunny Hills