A quick look at what’s standing in front of the two Long Beach high schools this afternoon as they take the court in first-round CIF action.

Wilson vs. El Toro, Long Beach State Pool 3pm

Thanks to El Toro’s 9-7 win over San Marcos in Tuesday’s wild card round, they’re the lucky team that gets welcomed into the Long Beach State campus pool by Tony Martinho’s Wilson Bruins Wednesday afternoon.  The third-seed from the Sea View League, El Toro isn’t a team to take likely, like most of the Division 1 bracket.  They have wins this season over Santa Margarita and Huntington Beach, and have hung tough both times they played Los Al, a team Wilson has struggled against as well.

Taylor Adair, Justine Morgan, and Allison Skaggs are the big goal-scorers for El Toro, and if Wilson wants to advance (as they’re favored to) they’ll need to contain those three shooters, and find a way to solve Emily Browning’s presence in the net.  When Browning plays big, El Toro is hard to beat—she had 10 saves against San Marcos.

Should the Bruins beat El Toro, they’ll likely face familiar foe Los Al in the second round—the Griffins host Irvine Wednesday afternoon.

Poly @ Corona Del Mar, 3pm

Poly is the definitive underdog when they head to Corona Del Mar Wednesday afternoon, but that’s a role the Rabbits relish; it’s already been a year of upward movement for Poly, as they beat Millikan to finish second in league for the first time in years.  But they’re facing a very tough team in Corona Del Mar, the champions of the Pacific Coast League.

Corona Del Mar split a pair of games against Wilson, losing the first 7-5 and winning the second, 8-7.  They have an offense capable of exploding in big runs—as shown in the win over Wilson, when they went from silence in the first quarter to 7 goals in the final three frames, while holding the Bruins to 4.

They’re a dangerous team, as well, because they play mostly seniors who have a lot of experience.  Senior Margot Money is the big scorer, and if Poly wants to stand a chance on Wednesday, shutting her down has to be the top priority; if they can do that, then they can worry about scoring on super sophomore sensation Alex Musselman, the net-minder who’s averaging almost ten saves a game.

Should the Rabbits pull off the upset, the road won’t get any easier—barring a major upset, they’d host Rosary in the second round; Rosary was the Trinity League champion this year.