High school soccer: The Monster delivers four goals in Caruthers’ 6-2 win to claim Division VI title

Juan Esparza Loera
·4 min read

Just when it appeared that an 11-year girls soccer championship drought would only grow longer for Caruthers High on Friday evening, Gizelle Aguirre and Emily Álvarez sprang into action against a stubborn Riverdale High side that bolted out to leads of 1-0 and 2-1.

Aguirre – nicknamed Monster since childhood when she would wake up with her hair all messed up like a monster – scored four goals and Álvarez added two to power the host Blue Raiders to a 6-2 victory over the visitors to claim the CIF Central Section Division VI championship.

The senior forward now has 153 goals in her high school career.

Caruthers High senior Gizelle Aguirre ties her shoelaces after scoring one of her four goals in the CIF Central Section Division VI soccer championship match at home against Riverdale High on Feb. 23, 2024. Caruthers won, 6-2.
Caruthers High senior Gizelle Aguirre ties her shoelaces after scoring one of her four goals in the CIF Central Section Division VI soccer championship match at home against Riverdale High on Feb. 23, 2024. Caruthers won, 6-2.

The title appeared in danger when Riverdale’s Jaqueline Pizano quieted the home crowd in the fourth minute of play.

When it appeared that López gave the Caruthers the momentum with a 14th-minute goal, Riverdale’s Alexandra Díaz got the lead back one minute later for the visitors.

Enter Aguirre. She scored in the 31st minute and then saw Álvarezz score right before the half as Caruthers took a 3-2 halftime lead.

Aguirre then added three second-half goals to ice the game.

“They came ready to play and we were a little asleep,” said Aguirre. “I knew we would win after we got the first goal.”

Leslie López starts a breakaway against Riverdale High in the CIF Central Section Division VI championship. Caruthers won, 6-2, over visiting Riverdale High on Feb. 23, 2024.
Leslie López starts a breakaway against Riverdale High in the CIF Central Section Division VI championship. Caruthers won, 6-2, over visiting Riverdale High on Feb. 23, 2024.

The Caruthers girls watched the boys basketball team capture a section title earlier in the day at Fresno’s Selland Arena, and Aguirre said the girls soccer team wanted to celebrate a section championship as well.

Aguirre also wanted to follow in the footsteps of her older sisters who also won section soccer titles at Caruthers.

In other girls soccer play

Division I: Top-ranked Liberty High of Bakersfield continued its dominance of second-seeded Garces Memorial to capture the Division I championship with a 3-1 victory.

Liberty, now 23-1-2, defeated Sanger 1-0 in the semifinals. Garces dropped to 18-3-1, with two of those losses and the tie coming at the hands of the Patriots.

Jaiden Gore led Liberty with a season-high 21 goals.

Division II: Top-seeded Independence of Bakersfield, which won 14 of its last 16 matches heading into the title match, scored a 1-0 win over Arroyo Grande. Independence is now 20-5-1, while Arroyo Grande, the seventh seed, falls to 11-9-2.

Division III: Kerman High, the third seed, was accustomed to championship finals after reaching five straight finals. However, the Lions only win was in the 2022 Division IV championship.

Friday, Kerman captured the title with a 2-0 win over Justin Garza.

Justin Garza, 15-12-4, scored a 2-1 win over Kerman on Dec. 5. Garza lost 3-1 last year in the first round of Division III against Kerman.

Division IV: San Joaquín Memorial, the fifth seed, dropped to 11-15-6 with a 2-0 loss to No. 6-seeded Mission Prep. Memorial went 1-7-2 in league play.

Mission Prep, now 13-7-5, had its first winning season since 2015-16.

Division V: Matilda Torres High of Madera, in its second season of competition, sailed through the Division V playoffs with a 21-1 scoring advantage, including Friday’s 3-0 win over Orcutt Academy.

The Toros are now 22-6-4. Orcutt Academy is 15-10.

Torres freshman Emma Velasquez had 37 goals going into the final. Freshman teammate Elihanna Gallegos had 24 goals.

Torres, which lost six of its first eight matches of the season, went 13-0-1 in North Yosemite League play. The Toros, whose last loss was Dec. 2, has 14 shutouts.

Three boys titles to be decided Saturday

In a rematch of last year’s Division I championship match, top-seeded Clovis North (18-1-5) will host No. 6 seed Ridgeview of Bakersfield at 1 p.m. on the Clovis East soccer field.

Clovis North won last year’s game, 3-1.

Other championship matches scheduled for Saturday are Division V (Matilda Torres vs. Riverdale at 5 p.m. at Madera South) and Division VI (top-seeded Woodlake hosts Robert F. Kennedy of Delano at 1 p.m.).

Division II: Foothill of Bakersfield (19-5-3) scored a 3-1 win over El Diamante of Visalia. Foothill has section titles in 2020 (Division III) and 2019 (Division IV).

Division III: No. 1 seed Porterville (25-3-3) scored a 2-1 win over No. 3 César Chávez (20-5-1).

Chávez lost the 2023 Division III and 2022 Division V finals.

Division IV: No. 2 seed Justin Garza (14-11-3) scored a 2-1 win over No. 4 Dinuba for the school’s first-ever section title.

Dinuba defeated Garza 2-1 in the season opener for both teams on Nov. 14.

Dinuba won the Division III championship in 2017, 2015 and 2012.