Not a rebuild: Oakdale girls soccer claims first section championship in historic season

With five seniors from last year’s Oakdale High girls soccer team graduating and moving on to college soccer, the 2025-26 season could have looked like a rebuild.

Don’t tell the Mustangs.

With a roster that has just five seniors, Oakdale leaned on its youth for most of its production. Five of the Mustangs’ top seven goal scorers are underclassmen, as are six players with at least four assists.

The Mustangs have turned in the best season in school history. The 21-2-2 overall record is the program’s first 20-win season. The girls finished as 12-0 undefeated Valley Oak League champions for the first time ever and, on Saturday, they beat Twelve Bridges 3-1 to claim the program’s first ever Sac-Joaquin Section championship.

“These girls have worked so hard, our program has worked so hard, our coaches have worked so hard … we accepted the challenge, regardless of the division,” Oakdale head coach Kico Monares said. “The job is finished.”

The third time was the charm for the Mustangs.

They were finalists in Division III in 2024 and 2025, falling both times by just one goal. This season, Oakdale was the top seed in the Division IV bracket and after a first-round bye, beat Central Catholic 4-2 in overtime and Ripon 4-0 in the section semifinals.

In its three postseason matches, Oakdale outscored its opponents 11-3.

“This was a business trip,” Monares said. “This is the third time we’ve been here and we’re not happy just being here. I think that was the mindset with our returners and it trickled down. These girls were locked in … from the time they parked their cars in the (Oakdale) student parking lot until the whistle. There was no way these girls were going to allow losing today.”

The underclassmen led the way for the Mustangs all season, and Saturday night was no different.

Freshman Skyler Burford scored two goals and added an assist, and freshman Layla Garcia-Gonzalez scored the team’s other goal. Juniors Dakota Burford and Shelby Mitchell tallied assists. Senior Avery Gleason played the whole 80 minutes, allowing just one second-half goal and recording four saves.

The Mustangs never trailed in the contest. They opened the scoring early in the first half, and then in the 20th minute, Skyler Burford found Garcia-Gonzalez in the front of the goal for the second score. Twelve Bridges answered with a goal, and then Dakota and Skyler connected for the final score. The older Burford sent a corner kick in to her sister, who headed it in to put the game out of reach.

Dakota Burford was one of the few players who experienced both section title game losses during her freshman and sophomore seasons. The team’s assists leader, Burford’s helper Saturday was her 15th of the season. She also adds 14 goals. Dakota, Skyler and Garcia-Gonzalez are the three Mustangs with over 10 goals and assists.

Oakdale keeps its season alive with Saturday’s win.

The Mustangs advance to the CIF Northern California regional playoffs, which start in early March. While they do not yet know who their first-round opponent will be, they hope winning a section championship grants them at least a first-round home game. Until the brackets are released March 1, they will focus on getting better. The weight room sessions will remain, the practices will still happen after school.

Their motto since the start of the season has been “job’s not finished,” whether they won a league title, made the playoffs as a No. 1 seed or advanced to the title match. They wouldn’t have been happy without a blue banner.

When they took it home Saturday, Oakdale players asked the million-dollar question.

“‘Coach, is the job finished?’” Monares said they asked.

The “job” resets now as they play for the chance at regional and state championships.

“I’m like, ‘Yes, the section job is finished, but now we have regionals,’” Monares said.

Quinton Hamilton

The Modesto Bee

Quinton Hamilton covers high school sports for The Modesto Bee. He is a Southern California native and received his bachelor’s degree from Pacific Union College and a master’s in journalism from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. Quinton has worked at the Record-Journal in Meriden and helped on projects at Hearst Connecticut.