By Vincent Liu

Mountain View High’s Jessica Heeb races toward the goal in last week’s tie against Homestead.

In a final tuneup before the league season, the Mountain View High girls soccer team battled visiting Homestead to a 3-3 draw last Thursday.

Despite the less-than-ideal outcome, the game gave both teams positive vibrations as they headed into league play.

For the Spartans, it was reaffirmation that they can more than hold their own against opponents from the more competitive leagues. Playing in the lower El Camino Division of the SCVAL, Mountain View chose to play all its preseason games against teams from the upper De Anza Division and West Catholic Athletic League. It finished the preseason 3-2-2, including a win over Gunn and a tie against perennial powerhouse St. Francis.

For the Mustangs, the tie broke a six-game losing streak, giving them a 1-6-1 preseason record. Their offense was rejuvenated by the three goals - their biggest scoring output since a season-opening win.

The game started quickly for Mountain View, as Jessica Heeb scored in the third minute for a quick 1-0 lead. The Spartans could have put the game away in the first 15 minutes as their strikers repeatedly broke into the open only to miss several shots from close range.

Given the reprieve, the counter-attacking Mustangs tied the game with a goal from Katie Kimure in the 18th minute.

After Dawn Maxie put the Spartans ahead at the 30-minute mark with an assist from Heeb, Homestead caught a break two minutes later to knot the score. The Spartan goalie could not cleanly handle a shot by Kimure, and Jenny Phan kicked the loose ball into the net to tie the game at 2.

Phan untied the game quickly two minutes into the second half when she took a pass from Katie Wilcox at the top of the penalty area and left-footed a low shot into the right corner of the goal. That marked the last threat by Homestead, as Mountain View dominated plays for most of the balance of the game.

The equalizer finally came at the 57th minute when Mountain View striker Lisa Griego slipped a shot past the goalie that was knocked into the net by teammate Maxie at the goal mouth. It was redemption for the speedy Griego, who missed breakaway shots after repeatedly outrunning Homestead defenders in the game’s opening minutes.

The game featured stellar plays from Spartan center midfielder Kerri Quistad and her Homestead counterpart Kimure. Quistad, who assisted on her team’s first goal, dominated the air with her superior size and controlled the midfield with her ball anticipation. Kimure, a junior on an Olympic Development squad, dazzled with her quickness, finesse and deft short passes.

“The score doesn’t tell the story; we were dominating the whole time,” said Ahmad Saidin, promoted to varsity coach after several years running Mountain View’s junior-varsity program. “We need to finish our scoring chances.”