Arcadia Seniors Near Their Final Goal : Soccer: The 10 would like to end their prep careers with a Southern Section title.

ARCADIA — The Arcadia High girls’ soccer team spent the regular season atop the Southern Section Division II rankings, an enviable position for any program.

The Apaches lived up to their billing, going unbeaten through the Pacific League and compiling a 23-1-2 record.

Arcadia Coach Chuck Witkofsky enjoyed watching his team mature, but he would gladly trade months at the top of the rankings for that exalted position at the end of the season.

“That’s a curse,” Witkofsky said of his team’s ranking, “because everyone tries to knock your block off.

“There are so many teams out there that can make you slip. The defenses are getting so much better, you turn your back and someone is going to knock you down.”

Arcadia’s only loss was to Peninsula, 3-1, in the South Torrance tournament.

Arcadia opened the playoffs last week with a 3-0 victory over Chaminade, then defeated rival Temple City, 3-0, on Tuesday. The Apaches play El Modena today.

“If we play like we should, we can beat anybody,” said senior Michele Kennedy, who has a team-high 34 goals this season and school-record 132 in her career.

For Kennedy and the nine other seniors on Arcadia’s 18-player roster, a Southern Section championship would seem to be the natural conclusion to their prep careers.

As freshmen, they were part of a 24-2-1 team that lost in the quarterfinals to St. Lucy’s. As sophomores, they lost in the semifinals to South Torrance and finished 23-4-1.

Last season, Arcadia was 26-0 entering the championship game against Torrance, but lost, 3-2.

“We’ve had a lot of success,” said Witkofsky, who is in his 12th season at Arcadia. “We just haven’t taken the ring yet.”

This could be the season that Arcadia finally reaches the top.

The Apaches’ nucleus is a group of players who have been together from about age 7.

Kennedy, who also has 17 assists, is considering scholarship offers from several universities. Midfielder Stephanie DeCastro, a co-captain, has a team-high 23 assists and will play next season at the University of Washington.

Goalie Cathy Zoccoli, who has 69 shutouts in her career, stopper Jenny Franco, sweeper Angie Fraschetti and forward Jill Westphaln also will probably play at a higher level.

Every member of the team has scored at least one goal and has at least one assist.

“This year’s team is the best we’ve had skill-wise and as far as working together as a team,” DeCastro said.

If there was a turning point in an otherwise untroubled season, DeCastro said it was the defeat to Peninsula, which occurred in mid-December.

“That was good for us,” she said. “It woke our team up and made us aware that we could lose if we didn’t come out ready to play every game.”

Arcadia demonstrated its experience in the playoffs against Chaminade and Temple City.

Against Chaminade, Westphaln scored off a corner kick by DeCastro and an assist from Franco to give the Apaches a 1-0 lead about nine minutes into the first half. DeCastro scored the second goal off an assist from Kennedy early in the second half, and Kennedy scored the final goal.

Against Temple City, Kennedy scored twice as the Apaches shut down Ram All-American forward Erin Martin.

With Kennedy, DeCastro and the rest of its senior class departing, Witkofsky said the Apaches will be rebuilding next year.

Reloading might be more accurate.

Junior Valerie Brice has 19 goals and 12 assists this season. Sophomore Ashly Bushey has six goals and nine assists, and sophomore Vanessa Chao has six goals and seven assists. Freshman Corrine Roberge has six assists.

In addition, the Apaches’ will gain players from a junior varsity that lost only one game this season.

“You have to play with what you get,” Witkofsky said. “It will be a completely new team next year.”

The winning results, however, figure to remain the same.