Granada Hills Charter has turned a corner when it comes to girls soccer.
The Highlanders, who have been competitive for several seasons, beat Apple Valley on March 2 for the CIF SoCal Regional Division III crown. It’s the first time a boys or girls team has won a regional championship at Granada Hills.
“It raises the expectations a little higher for the next few years, but that comes with the territory,” head coach Guilherme Mitrovitch said. “It’s very very exciting. The school was pretty stoked about the win and they’re still celebrating.”
Mitrovitch is in his first season as head coach at Granada Hills, but has previously experienced success while coaching Hart’s girls soccer team.
Coincidentally, the Highlanders’ girls basketball team also won a CIF regional championship this season under a first-year head coach in Rai Colston.
Mitrovitch credits previous coach David Huish for building up the girls soccer program and setting up the team for success this season. The coach said he only had to make a few slight changes to the style of play this season to get them on track for a regional title. The players’ response was a factor in the success, as well.
“This group, I could tell that from the beginning they were hungry, they wanted to get better, they wanted to do better than the last two years,” Mitrovitch said. “They all bought in right away and we had a good cohesion in our group and good leadership, too.”
The Highlanders went 7-0-3 in West Valley League play to win the program’s first league championship since 2020 and had 10 players named to a West Valley All-League team.
Juniors Ana De Los Santos, Haley Mallas and Sophia Hartunian, sophomore Genesis Sanchez and freshman Iliana Velazco were each named first-team players. Seniors Hazel Caro and Isabella Cubias, junior Samantha Chon, sophomore Yasmine Guemmat and freshman Natalie Pimentel were each recognized on the second team.
A challenging nonleague schedule that…
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