SARAGOTA – The Vikings returned home after a rough first weekend at the Central Coast Invitational and rebounded in spectacular fashion, finishing with three victories to only one loss in the 2025 West Valley Invitational.

 West Valley (3-3) opened the weekend on Friday morning against Cabrillo (0-11). The West Valley offense was on display early on, as leading-goal scorer Sofia Gaytan Martinez netted five balls in what was – at the time – the most goals she had scored in a game.

 "Sofia has been leading the team, offensive-wise," said head coach Enrico De Munno. "Without Sofia, we're not able to move forward in our offense."

 Gaytan Martinez opened with two goals in the first period as West Valley jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and freshman Kyla Macartney broke Cabrillo's momentum with 3:30 to go in the first half on her first career goal.

 Early in the third period, Cabrillo scored three unanswered goals, each from a different player, before Gaytan Martinez struck again and freshman Anya Nordin equalized with under two minutes to play in the third. In the fourth quarter, Gaytan Martinez' fifth goal proved to be the game-winner, while Emma Van Laar provided insurance with under three to play.

 Against Modesto (2-7) later Friday afternoon, the Vikings had to play from behind for a majority of the contest but, for the first time this season, proved what they could do with their backs against the wall.

 West Valley trailed for over 77 percent of the game against Modesto as they couldn't find an offensive rhythm in the early parts of the contest and Modesto scored in droves, leading 6-4 at the half.

 But the fourth quarter became the Sofia Gaytan Martinez show. She scored four unanswered goals in less than three minutes to turn a two-goal deficit into a two-goal advantage.

 It was a breakout weekend for the sophomore attacker, who had 25 goals to go with 38 assists in a stellar 63-goal freshman season.

 But after scoring no more than three goals in a single game in the 2024 season, Gaytan Martinez scored five goals in the opener to set a career-high, then topped her own tally with eight against Modesto to single-handedly win the game for the Vikings.

 While impressed, De Munno wasn't surprised.

 "She's been extremely helpful in playing her role," said De Munno. "That's her role on our team. And she's been doing fantastic. I'm extremely satisfied with all of that."

 The third game of the weekend proved to be the toughest. Facing a Southern California powerhouse in Cerritos, the Vikings led for a majority of the first period when – guess who – Gaytan Martinez opened the scoring with two goals, the first working one-on-one with a Cerritos defender, the second on a counterattack feed from sophomore goalie Leo Jolissaint.

 The two were deadlocked for most of the first half, with West Valley actually taking the lead against Cerritos with 4:27 to go in the third.

 But Cerritos, looking to stave off the upset, scored four unanswered goals of its own to take an 8-7 lead going into the fourth period.

 "We started in a good note, fell a little deep in the third quarter, which was hard to recover," said De Munno.

 Neeki Afshar, who De Munno shouted out individually for her work over the summer and grown in the early part of the season, brought the Vikings within one with just 4:21 to play until Cerritos' Isabella Ochoa scored with 1:26 to go.

 Gaytan Martinez attacked unassisted and scored with just 33 seconds on the clock to make it a one-score game again, but Jolissaint's last-second heave fell short of the cage.

 "Cerritos is a good program, they come from [Southern California] which is where most of the important teams are," said De Munno. "They've been having really good games all around this season, and we had a tough game with them. But nonetheless, an extremely competitive game."

 The struggles at home were an unfamiliar sight for the Vikings, who hadn't lost a home game since 2022. But the signs of life were there, rebounding from a weekend at the CCI where they were outscored 42-15 to finish the West Valley Invitational outscoring their opponents 44-31.\

 While the Vikings dominated a short-handed Las Positas squad that had to play down a player in Saturday's final game, De Munno was enthused about how his team performed – not only in the games they won.

 "A lot of ups and downs," said De Munno. "The team had some good moments, team had some not-so-good moments. But nonetheless, moments that we were behind, and we were able to get out of the hole and make a comeback, which there is extreme value in."

 The Vikings are off for an extended period before playing Las Positas next Wednesday, on the road, at 4:15.