Aliso Niguel, Santa Margarita Qualify For Regional Championship

The California Interscholastic Federation breathed new life into the Santa Margarita Catholic girls' soccer season.

The Eagles were out of the playoffs, losers in the semifinal round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs on penalty kicks to Aliso Niguel, but they were deemed good enough to continue playing for the state's biggest championship.

They, along with Aliso Niguel, will continue playing this week in the 5th Annual SoCal Regional Championships. The finals will be held Saturday at Warren High in Downey.

Santa Margarita (16-5-3) received a berth in Division II and will kick off the playoffs Tuesday at home against Arleta (14-4-4).

The state divisions are based on enrollment.

Aliso Niguel, which beat San Clemente for the Southern Section Division 1 championship, was seeded No. 2 in the State Division I playoffs. The Wolverines (19-1-5) will play host to Claremont (27-1-4) in a matchup of one-loss teams.

San Clemente, which was beaten in the finals by Aliso Niguel, and which lost only once in its last 18 games, did not receive a playoff berth. The Tritons' record is 17-3-8, but they did not receive one of the Southern Section's four automatic berths into the Division I playoffs.

Those berths were instead awarded to Aliso Niguel, Los Osos (23-0-3), Claremont (27-1-4) and Downey (18-7-4). 

St. Margaret's, which won the Southern Section Division 6 championship, declined a bid to play this week.

Here is the schedule for first-round girls' games by bracket position (games are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday); first round and semifinal games are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.:

Division I (final Saturday at Warren HS, 3:30 p.m.)
Downey (18-7-4) at Carlsbad (18-4-1)
La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, 20-3-2) at Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga, 23-0-3)
Buchanan (Clovis, 20-2-1) at El Camino Real (Woodland Hills, 22-2-2)
Claremont (27-1-4) at Aliso Niguel (19-1-5)

Division II (final Saturday at Warren HS, 10:30 a.m.)
Arleta (14-4-4) at Santa Margarita Catholic (Rancho Santa Margarita, 16-5-3)
St. Lucy's Priory (Glendora, 18-9-2) at Clovis North (Fresno, 23-3-1)
Coronado (13-6-6) at Bishop Amat (La Puente, 22-4-4)
Citrus Valley (Redlands, 23-2-1) at Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, 17-6-5)

Division III (final Friday at Warren HS, 5 p.m.)
Strathmore (Porterville, 22-2-1) at Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, 20-5-1)
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, 16-4-2) at Horizon Christian Academy (San Diego, 20-4-3)
Viewpoint (Calabasas, 16-4-3) at Liberty (Madera Ranchos, 26-3-1)
Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (14-5-1) at Marymount (Bel-Air, 19-4-4)