Winter sports teams and their fans had a lot to celebrate in the past couple of months.
For the first time since 2012, the boys’ basketball team won a league title in the El Camino League, sharing it with Homestead, which also finished 12-2. Boys’ soccer followed suit and secured their first league championship in seven years. Both advanced to CCS, with basketball placing in advancing to the quarterfinals in Division III playoffs as the fifth seed while soccer made semifinals in Division V as the second seed.
For girls’ soccer and basketball, both also saw similar season success. Girls’ soccer advanced to the Division IV CCS quarterfinals as the sixth seed and finished second in the El Camino League, while girls’ basketball reached the second round of the Division III playoffs.
2024-2025 league records:
- Boys’ soccer: overall 11-7-3 record, El Camino league 7-3-2 record
- Boys’ basketball: overall 18-8 record, El Camino league 12-2 record
- Girls’ soccer: overall 14-4-1 record, El Camino league 11-2-1 record
- Girls’ basketball: overall 14-12 record, El Camino league 6-8 record
Notably, girls’ soccer had the second best overall season record in school history.
This level of achievement has been rare at Saratoga High, where winter sports only won league titles twice in the last decade — girls’ soccer during the 2021-2022 season and boys’ soccer in the 2017-2018 school year. Each team found success in different ways this season, but understood player relationships and determination was key.
Boys’ soccer reaches CCS semifinals before falling to Crystal Springs
Out of all the winter sports, boys’ soccer advanced the furthest this season, playing in the CCS semifinals against Crystal Springs on Feb. 26 as well as being the sole team to hold the league title.
For senior midfielder Itamar Shoshani, one of the team’s captains, success came from the team’s chemistry on the field and willingness to pass the ball instead of ball hogging as well as motivating others to succeed. He felt that the team dynamics and selflessness were vital in helping the team win games throughout the season.
While Shoshani called this season his best year of high school soccer, he acknowledges he and the team had struggled midway through the season when they lost 2-0 to Milpitas on Jan. 28 — a game that put them behind both Gunn and Monta Vista in league standings.
The Falcons then went on to win the next four consecutive league games, securing first place during their senior night win, 3-1 against Cupertino.
The team’s league title success also resulted from clinching several crucial wins throughout the season, including a tight 2-1 win away against Monta Vista on Jan. 30. The Falcons were leading 1-0 until conceding a goal and tying the game in the last five minutes of the match. Regardless, the Falcons kept their composure, with senior striker Finn Smith going on to score a last-minute goal and secure the win.
The team went on to win 1-0 to James Lick in the CCS quarterfinals on Feb. 22, but fell to Crystal Springs Uplands 3-1 on Feb. 26 in the semifinals on their home pitch.
The team conceded three goals in the first half due to Crystal Spring’s speed in counterattacks and left a narrow chance to equalize the score in the second half. Two of the goals, scored in the first 20 minutes of the game damaged the players’ mental focus early on, but the Falcons were able to score near the 65th minute and keep the game competitive until the final whistle.
Boys’ basketball wins league championship and makes CCS quarterfinals
Senior captain and forward Daniel Jadali believes the team found most of its success coming out of preseason, when players began to understand how their playstyle and position fit into head coach Mike Davey’s system.
“I think the team chemistry and the willingness to play for each other rather than for ourselves pushed us through each game,” he said.
For Jadali, his most memorable game was the team’s first league game against Homestead on Jan. 4. The Falcons came back from an 18-point deficit, winning the game 70-67 in overtime and setting the tone for the rest of the season.
Going into division play in the lower El Camino in early January, other coaches and teams expected little out of the Falcons — something Jadali said inspired them.
But after their impressive 70-67 overtime win against Homestead on Jan. 4, he said the Falcons started to become too confident and underestimate their opponents in the following weeks, often not taking games against teams lower in the league standings seriously.
“We began going into every game thinking we were guaranteed a win. We were undefeated, and that got to our heads, so we kind of stopped trying,” Jadali said. “Then, before our game against Monta Vista [on Feb. 5], we had a few games against teams that were not as good but showed us we needed to start playing better.”
The team received a wake-up call in the latter half of their season when they faced Monta Vista for the second time and lost 73-65 on Feb. 5. This game ended their 11-game win streak.
Regardless, the team recovered and won the next three following games, guaranteeing them at least a shared league title. On Feb. 18, the team lost 59-50 away to Homestead and officially shared the league title with them.
While the team did win their first CCS playoff game home against Mills 54-50 on Feb. 22, they lost in the quarterfinals away to Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory 87-74 on Feb. 25. Jadali attributed this loss to the team’s scramble to transition quickly back and defend, leading Sacred Heart to score a lot of early points and setting the team at a deficit from the start
Girls’ soccer finishes second in league with a historic record and qualifies to CCS quarterfinals
For girls’ soccer, the team came short of a league title after a 4-1 loss home against Fremont on Feb. 18. Despite this, senior captain and center back Hillary Gonzalez saw several notable accomplishments this season, such as sophomore Katie Lu and junior Keatyn Spendlove taking charge of the offensive line and scoring 11 goals each in the season.
“Not only was the team extremely interconnected and supportive of each other, but we went very far this season, winning a record number of [14] games,” she said. “The team chemistry and culture was top notch this year. Everyone was comfortable talking with everyone. Everyone was willing to work hard on and off the bench.”
This year, the team had a roster of 23 players but no JV team. Because of this, several young players didn’t receive much playing time; nevertheless, Gonzalez believes these girls always put their best foot forward, working hard during practice even without the guarantee of playing time.
She added that giving these underclassmen the practice time to develop will benefit the program in the future under the guidance of head coach Ben Maxwell as these players will already be acclimated to the culture and expectations the team holds. The team faced their first defeat on Jan. 28, when they suffered a 4-1 loss against Milpitas, a team they had defeated 5-1 earlier in the season.
“The loss against Milpitas sucked, but it was bound to happen. It was unfortunate that we lost to a team we most definitely should have won against towards the end of the season,” Gonzalez said.
Their defeat against Milpitas, which came after six consecutive league wins, made the team realize that wins in the latter half of the season were going to become tighter and the Falcon’s would need to step up their performance to be successful.
Gonzalez said their away game against Cupertino on Feb. 22 was emblematic of this shift. The team had beaten them 4-1 at home on Jan. 21, but during their second time playing each other, the team came back from a 2-0 deficit to narrowly win 4-3 on the Pioneers’ senior night. She felt that the energy that night was crucial to propel the team towards the end of their season.
While the team came second in league to Fremont, unable to move up to the higher De Anza League, they qualified for CCS quarterfinals against The Nueva School, a team they lost 4-2 in preseason. While the team had a stronger idea of their playstyle and key players after playing them the first time, the game ended in a tight and disappointing 2-1 loss, marking the end of their season.
Girls’ basketball reflects on wins throughout the season and CCS qualification
Senior and captain Riley Adler felt that girls’ basketball found success from the team’s close dynamic with one another.
“I think our relationship is one of the things that made this year’s team special. We had this team bonding experience where we all went up to Half Moon Bay for a weekend and we all got super close and learned about each other personally,” Adler said. “We carried that throughout the season, through the highs and lows, and had this energy and cohesiveness that allowed us to play as a unit.”
Apart from their relationships, Adler also felt the team benefited greatly from the confidence shown in them by their head coach, Manny Steffen, who gave space for the five seniors to take more control on the court and lead the team. As a result, she finds the Falcons had much more energy on the court due to this leadership.
The team started off slow, losing their first two league games 53-43 and 40-34 to Wilcox and Cupertino respectively.
After, they had a rough 37-29 loss at home against Mountain View on Jan. 10, a side they had already lost 47-22 to during the preseason. While the Falcons lost 37-29 the second game, Adler believes the team saw what they were truly capable of, as the scoreline was closer than the preseason game. The Falcons then went on to win four of their next five division games.
One of their best performances came during their second game against Cupertino on Jan. 28. The first time the two teams met away on Jan. 7, the Falcons lost 40-34. The second time around, Adler believes the team outplayed their opponents, with every team member positively affecting the game; this ultimately led to a 56-48 home win.
“We had lost the first time against them, but instead of getting down on ourselves, we came back and we went even stronger,” she said. “We took everything we did wrong the first time, and we fixed it. And it was just really cool to see what we could do.”.
The team ended in sixth place in league and reached the CCS quarterfinals against El Camino High. However, the team fell 43-34, a loss attributed by Adler to their inability to keep up with the intensity and speed their opponents played at.
Overall, each of these four winter sports placed well in their leagues, all securing CCS qualifications. But beyond the quality of players on the field or court, players said team chemistry helped them thrive to make the 2024-2025 winter sports season a historic success for the school.
“I’m proud of how far we went this season, because this is the most we’ve won in a long time,” Adler said. “And it’s not always about winning, but it’s also how much we grew, because I think this year is the first time we really liked playing together in a way that was fun and productive.”
