Faith draws defending champs

Appeal-Democrat

The Faith Christian High girls soccer team will have its hands full, when it travels to Capital Christian on Tuesday to open the Sac-Joaquin Section Div. VI playoffs.

"We'll definitely be the underdogs," Lions coach Pierre Preaseau said, pointing out Capital Christian is the defending Section champion and has virtually its entire team back.

Faith (16-4) is the lone Yuba-Sutter team to qualify for the playoffs.

Preaseau is worried that the Lions might not be able to match up offensively with the high-scoring Cougars (14-0-1), who are led by Brittany Flanagan, the top goal scorer in the Section with 45.

Faith's Katie Hall is right behind Flanagan wit 43 goals, and with Hall and her sister, Sarah, the Lions have solid 1-2 scoring punch.

Sarah Hall has scored 29 goals and assisted on another 26.

Capital Christian's second forward, Stephanie Long, also is capable of generating goals, as Preaseau noted Sarah Hall and Long (28 goals) both are in the top 10 in the Section in scoring.

Preaseau added Capital Christian is averaging more than five goals a game.

"We're going to have to try and find a way to get the ball two our two forwards," Preaseau said.

The Faith coach didn't think that would be a problem with Katie DeMeritt at midfield, but DeMeritt, a three-time all-league player, sustained a broken ankle against River Valley in March and won't suit up.

"If we had Katie DeMeritt I'd feel pretty comfortable that we'd be able to get the ball up top," Preaseau said.

Preaseau noted it's unfortunate that the Lions have to open the playoffs against Capital Christian, to first-lace team from the Golden Empire League.

Section officials rotate the playoff schedule each year, Preaseau said and this just happens to be the year that Faith, playing in the Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League, has to face a GEL school.

Last year, Faith and Capital Christian met in the Section semi-finals, with the Cougars winning, 5-1.

Preaseau already has a game plan to try and keep pace with the Cougars, but he was reluctant to share, citing the deceptive play of the Capital Christian coach. Last year, he noted the Cougars changed jersey numbers of its top players to throw the Lions off.