Cape Central girls soccer focused entering C3D1 tournament

Coming off a year in which they won just six games, 2024 has been a complete turnaround for the Cape Central Tigers girls' soccer program.

The Tigers ended the regular season with a record of 11-5 and they enter the Class 3 District 1 Tournament, which they are hosting, as the No. 2 seed.

“I think we’re 5-1 at home,” Tigers coach Duncan McKinley said. “Having that confidence that we can play well here is definitely going to give us that extra energy.”

For the Tigers, being the two-seed is recognition of the turnaround they’ve had, but it also puts a target on their back as one of the top teams in the district.

“I think it validates all the hard work we’ve been doing throughout the season,” McKinley said. “We’re definitely going to have to play up to that seed. The work’s not done even though we got the two seed. We got a big game on Saturday and we take it game by game regardless of the seed.”

McKinley emphasized the importance of not overlooking any opponent during postseason play.

“You have to go half by half,” McKinley said. “We have to do the right things in the first half like making sure we’re scoring on our chances and keeping the ball out of the back of our net. Having a good warmup and taking it half by half is important and we won’t look to Tuesday until Saturday is over.”

Perhaps the biggest key for the Tigers will be how they prepare leading up to kickoff on Saturday.

“Getting some good training sessions in this week is going to be helpful,” McKinley said. “We want to make sure we’re all in the right mindset going forward knowing that we can compete. We’ve got a lot of seniors this year and hopefully we can lean on their experience and their maturity to have the focus and have the energy and bring it on Saturday.”

The road to being the No. 2 seed in this year’s Class 3 District 1 tournament didn’t just happen this season, it was a culmination of four years of work and learning that led to this moment.

“Bringing the girls up the last four years we’ve been playing the same structure,” McKinley said. “We’ve had the same expectations and standards and we’ve finally brought it all together.“

“I think our training sessions have been really good and that’s a big part of it,” McKinley said. “We do what we want to do in games at practice and we make sure we stick to that and know what we’re good at.”

While there will be a number of things that need to go right for the Tigers to come out with a district title, McKinley feels goal scoring will be the key.

Cape Central has plenty of scoring and they were paced this season by Celeste Gutierrez who was shifted to a different position coming into this season which led to her success scoring goals.

“We decided to push her higher up the field,” McKinley said. “She’s traditionally played a more center-mid role, but getting her higher up the field and allowing her to pick certain passes and get longer shots off have allowed her to maximize scoring chances.”

Cape Central begins play in the Class 3 District 1 Tournament at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, when the Tigers battle the No. 7 seed North County Raiders at Cape Central High School.