The562’s high school soccer coverage for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Long Beach Poly soccer alum Kennedy Justin.
The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
Had you just checked the score of Tuesday night’s CIF State playoff opener, you might’ve thought it belonged to a low-scoring football game rather than a soccer match.
That’s how dominant Millikan was in its CIF State first-round matchup against Tulare Western at DeHaven Stadium, showing no signs of a championship slump after Saturday’s CIF-SS title win over Ayala. The Rams found the back of the net seconds in on junior Furby Rios’ 1st minute goal and sprayed three more in just the opening 11 minutes.
That allowed Millikan to get a host of players in off the bench, as the Rams finished with seven different goal scorers and their 12th straight clean sheet in a 7-0 win over Tulare Western, setting up a championship rematch with Ayala on Thursday in the CIF Regional Semifinals.
“We knew they had a long ride here, and we knew that if we came out aggressive in the first 15 minutes then we’d give ourselves a chance,” said Millikan coach Tino Nunez. “We saw a couple things yesterday and were able to expose that and take care of business early. That allowed us to rest up and start getting ready for Thursday.”
Millikan outshot the Mustangs a preposterous 23-3 and earned seven corner kicks while Tulare Western had none. The Rams put 14 of those shots on frame and had plenty more opportunities in front but were called for six offsides flags.
Rios’ 1st minute goal came in dominant fashion as the junior dribbled up the left side just past midfield before sending a touch forward for Caoimhe Tighe. The senior took a few touches drifting left before cutting the ball inside off her right foot, where Rios arrived from the opposite side and finished a low shot off her left foot and into the far side of the goal.
“It was crazy. Our goal was to come out fast and put them away early,” Rios said after the game. “That’s what helped us last game starting out fast against Ayala, so that was just the objective to get one in and settle in from there.”
The Rams’ next three goals came within a four-minute span, including a pair in back-to-back minutes. Those two scores were nearly identical just seconds apart, as Ellie Carungcong sent a pair of low crosses from the end line about 10 yards wide of the left post, one connecting with Alyssa Carrillo in the 8th minute and another with Ava Parkhill in the 9th.
Millikan then added to its lead on one of its four first-half corner kicks in the 11th minute, as Jayla Cortes sent a ball into the box in front of the left post. Sarah Thaut then connected with a header to slot the Rams’ fourth and final goal of the half.
Defensively, Millikan goalkeeper Samantha Ortiz swallowed up Tulare Western’s only shot on goal of the game in the first half, and the Rams were able to get sophomore goalie Avery Witkin involved in the second. It was also a promising game on the back line for senior Callie Sythe, who’s filling in for UCSB commit Savannah Galvan during the Rams’ state playoff run.
“It’s huge having her coming into a starting role after waiting for her moment,” Nunez said of Sythe. “It’s hard to move your back line when you have the three that we have back there, but I thought she came in there ready for the moment. Now she’s gonna come back and be ready for Thursday.”
Nunez gave his starting attackers another 15 minutes of play to open the second half, and Rios capitalized to set up another goal. The junior squared off a defender before freezing her with a couple touches with her right foot and sending a ball through the right side, where Tighe connected from 15 yards out in the 55th minute for Millikan’s fifth.
The Rams tacked on another goal just a minute later, as Carungcong took a pass down the wide left side before dribbling forward, cutting inside and finding the back of the net in the 56th minute.
Millikan found its final goal of the game in the 76th minute when sophomore Adelyn Murphy broke loose down midfield, forcing the goalkeeper to come up from 20 yards out in a one-on-one. Murphy then took a touch to the right to get around the goalie before beating a defender to the right post to put away the easy score.
“They’ve been putting in the work and we’ve been getting the chances, but it’s always been one moment at a time,” Nunez said of all his goal scorers. “So it’s great today for each of them to get their moment, especially for our forwards to get on the scoreboard. You need your forwards scoring goals, so hopefully that gives us some confidence going into Thursday.”
Five days after defeating Ayala for the championship at Veterans Memorial Stadium, the Rams will host the Bulldogs again in Long Beach, this time at DeHaven Stadium on Thursday at 5 pm. Millikan is the two seed in the bracket, giving them home-field advantage over three-seeded Ayala, which defeated Crescenta Valley 7-2 in the first round.
