Arroyo Grande girls soccer headed to first-ever state championship game

For the first time in program history, Arroyo Grande girls’ soccer team will play in a state championship game.

The Eagles (13-9-2) will host the CIF Central Section Division 4 final against Louisville High (24-3), of Woodland Hills, on Saturday at 5 p.m. after a 2-0 win Thursday against Estancia of Costa Mesa.

On the hardwood, Mission Prep’s boys basketball posted a big win on the road, beating Grant 66-65, and Morro Bay girls basketball fell 48-45 at home versus Granada Hills Charter to conclude their stellar run this season.

Arroyo Grande secured an early lead with first half goals from sophomore Olivia Hunsicker, the team’s leading scorer on the season with 12, and senior Presley Dunkle.

Hunsicker found the back of the net off of a rebound about six minutes into the contest.

“Somebody crossed it to the center and I was kind of timing my run and the ball had hit the goalie and it kind of bounced off her and I shot it and finished,” Hunsicker said. “It’s super cool (to be playing in a final). We’ve never done this before. And I think it’s awesome that we could do it as a team.”

Dunkle’s goal came later in the first half, punching in a low laser to the right side of the goal, past the diving arms of the goalkeeper from Estancia (22-4-1).

“The girls are really excited, especially the seniors,” said Eagles Coach Matthew Carinio. “They don’t want to stop playing. I don’t blame them.”

A defensive hold

Carinio credited another strong defensive effort from his squad, which has posted five consecutive shutouts in his last five games.

“Our entire team defensively takes a lot of pride on clean sheets and we’ve had a lot of those games this season,” Carinio said.

Eva Kerr, a sophomore defender, said that the Eagles “definitely wanted the ball” and were aggressive to stop Estancia from firing off shots. Those that did were handled well by standout sophomore goalkeeper Jenelle Guey-Mock.

“It just feels really good because the whole work from the whole season has just paid off, and it’s really nice because my best friend Rosa (Ibarra) is back there with me,” Kerr said. “So it’s super rewarding.”

With forecasted rain Saturday, Arroyo Grande players said they are excited nonetheless, no matter how soupy it is on the field.

“I actually think it’s more exciting and kind of more of a challenge to play in the rain,” Hunsicker said.

“The field conditions are what they’re going to be,” Carinio said. “Ultimately, we’re always going into a game trying to control the match and control the pace of play when we have the ball, and trying to win it back and making it difficult to the team to move the ball forward against us.”

Carinio added: “So those have been our tenants the entire season and we’ve been playing consistently enough the last couple weeks to make it this far. So I don’t think that’s going to change at all.”

SLO County basketball results

One last San Luis Obispo County team remains for high school basketbal as Mission Prep boys basketball mounted a 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter to defeat Grant High School in Van Nuys 66-65. The Morro Bay girls basketball season came to a close in a narrow 48-45 loss to Granada Hills Charter.

Mission Prep 66, Grant 65

Midway through the fourth quarter, Mission Prep found themselves down by 14 points to Grant in the second round of the CIF State Division IV Basketball Championships.

But the No. 14 seed Royals (14-18, 3-5 Mountain) would mount a comeback and go on to win 66-65 and now will play in the Regional Semifinals against the No. 2 seed Cleveland High School (19-10).

After the Lancers hit five threes in the first quarter, the Royals found themselves down the rest of the game until the team strung together a 19-6 fourth quarter and forced overtime.

“This is a team that’s learned how to persevere,” Head Coach Terrance Harris said. “We’ve faced it all and there’s nothing that these young men face that puts them at a point where they don’t believe in who they are.”

The fourth quarter run was sparked by nine points in the last period of regulation by junior guard Jayden Nozil.

On the game, Nozil finished with 29 points. The 6-foot guard attacked the basket relentlessly and got to the free throw line 15 times for 10 makes.

But Harris pointed to a few other players who stepped up. With junior Roman Benedetti fouled out of the game in the final minutes, junior Ethan Orozco stepped in and made a key three-pointer. He scored eight points on the game.

Brayden Mott only finished with one point, but Mott’s defense and charge-drawing lifted the Royals.

“We don’t give Brayden enough credit,” said senior forward Luke Jacobson, who scored 14 points in the game. “Everyone focuses on points, but what Brayden does for our team, we wouldn’t be here without him.”

When asked about how he reflects on where the team was in non-league with an 11-game losing streak to making the third route of the state tournament, Jacobson described it as “fitting.”

“The struggle we went through allowed us to learn from our experiences and for us to get to the point we’re at now, everything happens for a reason,” Jacobson said.

As a senior, Jacobson said that the team went from questioning if they’ll make playoffs to making a run is a special memory for him.

The Royals will head to Cleveland High School on Saturday to face off against the Cavaliers.

Morro Bay 45, Granada Hills Charter 48

After leading at halftime by seven, Morro Bay girls basketball was unable to hold on to the win against Granada Hills Charter, falling 48-45.

The Pirates playoff run came to an end after winning 24 games to eight losses and a Sunset League Title.

“Anytime you win 20 games, it’s a great year,” Head Coach Alex Engel said. “To take it to almost 25 is even better.”

The Pirates are a base Division IV team for playoffs but got placed in Division 3 where they played against much larger schools. Engel said that Granada Hills Charter is the largest charter school in the nation with upwards of 4,000 students.

On the other hand, Morro Bay consists of approximately 750 total.

Engel is proud of the fact the Pirates took tough competition to the end with a chance to win.

“I’m proud of the effort and the time these girls put in,” Engels said.

The Pirates were the last girls basketball team standing in San Luis Obispo County.

The team will graduate three seniors: Tailer Morrison, Fiona Durham and Georgie Wheeler, all three of whom were starters for the Pirates.

“Those three really set the leadership for our team and our program,” Engel said. “They were the kids who shot around and stayed after practice. They asked to work out in the spring.”

Engel added that the team’s foundation didn’t start this past fall, but dated back to last season when the team came back to practice after their playoff loss.

“It’s not just something that happens on accident,” Engel said. “It happens because they put so much time and effort into it.”