Montgomery gets No. 1 seed

After beating North Bay League rival Montgomery on penalty kicks on Friday, the Maria Carrillo girls’ soccer team no doubt held out hope for the No.1 seed in the North Coast Section Div.I championships.

Sunday, the Pumas, officially NBL co-champions with Montgomery, were left wondering how they tumbled to No.3.

The Vikings (19-1-2) got the No.1 seed, while Sonoma County League winner and two-time defending section champion Casa Grande (13-2-3) earned the No.2. If Carrillo (16-2-2) and Casa both win Saturday — each has a first-round bye — their head-to-head match would likely be in Petaluma.

“We feel very fortunate to have gotten the No. 1 seed,” Vikings coach Pat McDonald said. “We played a very long and very tough schedule. The difference must have been our preseason; we went undefeated. Overall, this NCS tournament is wide open.”

Perhaps the seeding committee focused on head-to-head competition. Montgomery beat Casa twice, while the Gauchos defeated the Pumas.

“In my nine years of coaching varsity soccer, this must have been the toughest year for the committee,” McDonald said. “Look at how close the teams are.”

He believes any seed from 1 through 8 has a chance to claim this year’s title. Santa Rosa is at No.4, Windsor at No. 5, Petaluma at No.6, Ursuline at No.7 and Sonoma Valley at No.8. The latter three teams all open the tournament Wednesday, and two of them are looking at long drives — Sonoma to Eureka and Ursuline to Arcata.

In Div. III, top-seeded Sonoma Academy (16-2) is gunning for its third consecutive NCS title. The Coyotes’ went through their entire NCL II league schedule without yielding a goal. Their top competition in the playoff includes No. 2 St. Vincent and No. 3 Middletown.

“We’re just excited to be back in the NCS, trying to defend our title,” Sonoma Academy coach Chris Ziemer said. “We have a lot of respect for the teams we could compete against. Our goal is to focus on one opponent at a time.”

The Div.III brackets also include No.5 Fort Bragg, No.6 St. Helena, No.7 Roseland Prep, No.8 Rincon Valley Christian, No.9 Calistoga, No.10 Cloverdale and No.12 Clear Lake.