To cap off their season, the Bruins varsity girls soccer team will be advancing to the Central Coast Section playoffs, while the varsity boys team ended their season last Wednesday with a loss to Palo Alto.

The varsity girls team had a record of 9-6-3 (win/loss/tie) overall, and 4-5-3 in the De Anza league, placing fifth. This will be the fourth year in a row that they’ve qualified for the CCS playoffs.

While the boys varsity soccer team made it to the playoffs last year, they fell short this year and didn’t qualify. The team finished 6-8-3 overall, and 3-7-2 in the De Anza league, placing sixth.

Senior Parsa Khorramdin, midfielder and co-captain of the varsity boys soccer team, feels that the team should have won some of the games they tied, like against Palo Alto and Gunn.

“When we play high press and high intensity, we are really good and we create goal-scoring opportunities,” Khorramdin said. “But we needed to work on being consistent with our defensive high press and communication.”

To compete in the Division 1 playoffs, where a higher population school like SCHS would fit, the boys would have needed to either rank third or fourth in their league.

Heading to the first round of the Division 1 playoffs, left-defender Katie Patterson feels the girls team has a fighting chance in their bracket, especially because the team has been working closely with many JV players that have been brought up to varsity.

“We all need to come together as a team,” said Patterson, a senior. “We have to work together and communicate better.”

Like Patterson, head coach Brad Comstock thinks the team needs to work as a unit in order for them to do well in the playoffs.

“We definitely get better and learn after every game,” said senior Megan Wheelock, a co-captain and forward. “We need to keep playing the way we have been.”

Another addition to the playoffs this season is the newly approved Open division, that will give the top eights teams in CCS an opportunity to play against each other to see who will become the true champion.

The five teams that placed first in their league earned a spot in the Open. In addition, the three top point-getters who weren’t included in the five winning teams also earned a spot.

Points were earned from winning games and playing against higher ranked teams. Even if a team lost to a team ranked higher than them, they still earned points.

For the boys in the De Anza league, Palo Alto (13-0-4) placed first and Homestead (12-2-7) placed second but earned enough points, resulting in both teams qualifying for the Open.

For the girls in the De Anza league, Mountain View (17-0-2) and Palo Alto (16-1-1) will both be competing in the Open, and Saratoga (9-4-5) will be playing in the Division 2 playoffs, because it is a lower population school.

The Bruins varsity girls soccer team will be playing in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs against Branham High School at home on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m.