Holtville’s title game defeat revisited

The Lady Vikings react to Div. 5 championship loss.

CHULA VISTA, Calif., (KYMA, KECY) - It will go down as a dream season.

Coming out of the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Holtville girls soccer team's season was moved from the Fall to the Spring.

Through it all, the Lady Vikings remained determined and diligent.

Holtville swept through the Desert League, earning wins in all 9 of those games in route to a 12-8 overall season record and earning the top seed in the CIF-San Diego Section Division 5 Playoffs; the 1st in program history.

The playoffs would prove to be the most rigorous test of all for the Lady Vikes, as they got stiff challenges from Morse and Chula Vista Learning Community Center that led up to the championship game this past Friday.

The Lady Vikes got off to a slow start against Orange Glen, as they allowed the Patriots to score 3 goals in the 1st half.

Even with a 3-nil deficit, Holtville showed the character seen all season in refusing to quit.

Midfielder Lesley Sandoval scored for the Lady Vikes shortly before halftime to cut the deficit to 2 goals, before star striker Amanda Strahm punched in another goal halfway through the 2nd half to make it 3-2.

Even though Holtville had a couple of additional scoring chances, the Lady Vikes could not tie the game before the closing buzzer, ending their hopes for a 1st ever title in program history.

Despite the loss, head coach Sadie Ming believes her squad greatly benefitted from the experience:

"As a coach, you couldn't be more proud of that. And as a coach too, I coach soccer, but what I want to do is make a lasting impact on these girls. And that's life, isn't it? Fighting and fighting and getting back up. So, it shows that maybe they are leaning a little bit more than soccer and that's a good feeling."

Sadie Ming - Holtville Lady Vikings Girls Head Soccer Coach

"It really does motivate us, you know. To be honest, this is probably going to make us stronger for next season. Just persuade us more to work harder and we will probably practice next season what we did wrong today, and pick up our mistakes from this season and practice them for next season." 

Jasmine Castro - Holtville Lady Vikings Midfielder