GIRLS SOCCER: Catalina Foothills over Mountain View, 2-0

November 30, 2016 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Olivia Lai (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

Catalina Foothills beat Mountain View 2-0 on the final day of pool play at the Salpointe Brandon Bean Invitational Wednesday night. The victory gave the Falcons (2-0-1) the third seed coming out of Group C. Mountain View (1-2) did not advance out of pool play.

No. 3 Catalina Foothills will face No. 6 Tucson (1-1) on Friday, Dec. 2 to open up bracket play to be held at Salpointe Catholic.

Sophomore forward Tatiana Lizarraga took a pass from junior forward Allison Bleaman in the 35th minute to give Catalina Foothills a 1-0 lead. Senior midfielder Olivia Lai scored from 30 yards out in the 64th minute for the 2-0 final.

Mountain View had several opportunities in the opening minutes but could not find the net.

“They are a bunch of fighters and they never gave up,” Mountain View head coach Kelly Pierce said. “We may not have a roster filled up club athletes but they always give their best effort and we are learning to build upon the opportunities.”

Pierce opened up the invitational with an impressive 3-2 win over Rincon/UHS on Monday. The Mountain Lions followed that up with a narrow 1-0 loss to Cienega on Tuesday night. Mountain View opens up the regular season at home against Marana on Thursday, Dec. 8.

Catalina Foothills made it to the Division II semifinals last year, losing to eventual state champion Notre Dame 3-1. The Falcons have won eight state championships but a string of four-in-a-row was broken after the 2013 season.

Lai was a freshman on the 2014 team that took second place in 2014.

“We are very young this year with four freshmen starting with probably half the team comprised of underclassmen,” Lai said. “I think we are more focused actually and a little more confident.”

Lai is headed to American University next year.