The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
The562’s high school soccer coverage for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Long Beach Poly soccer alum Kennedy Justin.
The Millikan girls’ soccer program has been on a terrific run of success lately under head coach Tino Nunez, but the one thing the Rams were missing was postseason glory. While racking up Moore League titles, the Rams struggled to advance through the gauntlet of upper-division girls’ soccer brackets in the CIF-SS playoffs–until this past season.
In 2026, Millikan leaned on a stellar defense and clutch scoring on their way to the program’s first-ever CIF title. The Rams also got the added bonus of winning that title just a few miles from campus, as they took down Ayala, 1-0, at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
That was the 11th clean sheet in a row for Millikan, as they stifled opposing offenses on their way to the title. The senior back line of Gigi Fang, Savannah Galvan and London Perez were huge throughout the entire season and the playoffs, giving the Rams confidence that one goal was all they needed.
In the championship game, sophomore Jayla Cortes scored just five minutes into the match and that was indeed all it took for the Rams to win gold.
“It’s surreal, honestly,” Cortes said after the game. “Being able to come this far and put that goal away, it’s just like, I can’t even put into words. Our defense is so good that I knew if I put that early goal away that we could hold on to win the whole game. Obviously that’s what happened and it’s just so amazing.”
After winning the CIF-SS Division 2 crown, the Rams were invited to the CIF State Tournament for the first time, winning a pair of matches at DeHaven Stadium–including a thrilling rematch against Ayala in a penalty kick shootout.
Millikan’s storybook season ended in the SoCal Regional Finals with a loss to Quartz Hill, but the Rams racked up an impressive 21 victories (including 13 successive clean sheets) prior to that final defeat.
“We made history,” Millikan coach Tino Nunez said after the Quartz Hill match. “This group will always have that to look back on. It hurts right now, but when they get a chance to reflect, they’ll see how much they actually accomplished.”
