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.
There’s no style points in the playoffs. The goal is simple: win, survive, and advance.
The Millikan Rams did just that on Saturday evening at DeHaven Stadium, winning a contentious, clunky, forgettable game of soccer 1-0 over St. Genevieve, punching their ticket to the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.
“I think it’s just one of those where we found a way,” said Millikan head coach Tino Nunez after the win. “And sometimes it’s not the prettiest, sometimes it’s not like yourself.”
His Rams looked strong in stretches, particularly in the early going, but it was a disjointed match overall that never found a rhythm. Nunez said he would like to see more time off between playoff matches, and that having just two days of rest probably led to some uncharacteristic mistakes for both sides.
“Obviously that contributed to the heavy legs, and so you’re not thinking as much, you’re doing things out of the ordinary,” Nunez said. “But we found a way. Ugly. Call it what you want to call it. At this point, it’s the playoffs. You win or go home, and you find a way to win. So we’ll build off of that, and now we get to rest and see who we have next.”
Millikan put up 12 shots in the first half, but couldn’t quite find a breakthrough against sophomore Gianna Williamson, who racked up seven saves in the Valiants’ goal. The Rams also had four corner kicks, which led to a header from Savannah Galvan going off the post, representing one of their most dangerous chances of the evening.
Senior Karly Gallo did put a ball into the back of the net, jumping onto a rebound after a double save by Williamson, but she was correctly flagged for being in an offside position. The Rams were whistled offside seven times on Saturday, the result of a high back line that stayed solid for St. Genevieve.
Millikan finally got their breakthrough in the 50th minute, a result of their fifth corner kick of the match and their 15th shot attempt. Sophomore Jayla Cortes sent in a great ball to the back post, where Millikan’s top goal scorer, junior Furby Rios, was positioned to get a firm header on the ball. Her shot deflected off a Valiant defender, off Williamson and in, giving the Rams a lead they deserved with a half hour left to play.
Rios was a consistent steadying presence for the Millikan attack, putting six of her eight shot attempts on goal. In a game where the Rams didn’t find their usual rhythm and were playing a bit too hectic and disjointed, Rios said she just wanted to press forward as hard as possible to help her team.
“It’s kind of hard to balance my mindset as well as trying to balance the whole team’s mindset,” Rios explained. “So to me, I just want to keep going at it and at it, but I have to try to remember that as a team, we need to relax and play our game. When we play our game, that’s when we’re the best.”
Unfortunately, large swaths of the game were defined by the officiating, which made it hard to get into a competitive flow. A total of 19 fouls were called against Millikan with 14 against St. Genevieve. Furthermore, there were a total of nine yellow cards issued, and one red card shown to St. Genevieve’s Kimberly Calderon in the final minutes of the first half.
Calderon was called for a foul, then received a yellow card as she walked away, presumably for a comment made to the center ref. On her way to the visitors’ sideline, she was shown a second yellow card, which resulted in her ejection. That meant the Valiants would have to play the entire second half with just 10 players on the field–a tough assignment for any side, much less one that had only 13 players in uniform for the match.
The crowd grew increasingly frustrated with the decisions on the pitch, and were making their feelings known from the stands–particularly on the visitors’ half. At the start of the second half, a message was read over the PA for the second time to remind fans to be respectful and courteous to players and officials.
Despite that reminder, a St. Genevieve fan could be heard using derogatory language at the officials, and play was stopped for a meeting of both head coaches at the center circle. The referees then declared that the fan could voluntarily identify himself and leave the stadium, or else all visiting fans would be ejected. After a few minutes, a different St. Genevieve fan offered to leave, even though he said he hadn’t made the derogatory comment.
Following the interruption, which lasted around seven minutes, the Rams were able to get back to work, and Rios was able to score the game-winner just a few minutes after play resumed.
The Millikan defense and goalkeeper Samatha Ortiz also deserve a shoutout for keeping their eighth consecutive clean sheet. The Rams have not surrendered a goal since Jan. 9 against Orange Lutheran.
With that, the 2026 season rolls on for the Rams, and they’ll be in the CIF quarterfinals at Warren High in Downey on Wednesday evening. The Bears won their second-round match in PKs against La Habra.
