Highlanders host championship March 1
Gianluca Bini scored both goals to help lead the Piedmont High School boys soccer game to a 2-0 victory over San Rafael at Witter Field on February 26 to advance to the championship game of the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs.
The Highlanders will host Roseland University Prep-Santa Rosa on March 1 at 7 p.m.
Bini got Piedmont on the board right away with a goal in the second minute. He got his second in the 46th minute.
“Bosco (Lorin) gave me a beautiful ball over the top and I had nothing but to put that ball away,” Bini said.
“He’s in the areas that we want to attack,” coach Ben Russell said. “The ball is going into those areas. As long as we’re in the right areas, as a coach, I’m happy with that. And then it has got to be the final quality and obviously Gianluca had that quality.”
Bini’s second goal came off of a rebound off of a direct kick. It sparked a group dance on the corner of the field by the Highlanders, who are hot at the right time.
“It feels amazing from how far we’ve come,” Bini said. “It has just been a treat to experience growth with all of these players. From freshmen all the way to seniors. It has been an amazing season, started off slow but we are really racing now.”
Piedmont is 8-8-4 on the field this year. But the Highlanders earned the No. 1 seed in Division 4 and have lived up to the billing, outscoring their opposition 8-2.
Piedmont’s Harper Mand (35) battles San Rafael’s Edwin Perez (10) and Angel Ochoa (4) during an NCS playoff match at Witter Field on February 26. 
San Rafael’s Teo Cristea (white) goes up for a ball against Piedmont’s Nikola Markopoulos (22) while the Highlanders Beach Lorin (purple left) and the Bulldogs Callem Stewart (far left) watch. 
Piedmont goalkeeper Lucas Malecki kicks the ball during a 2-0 win over San Rafael. The shutout was Malecki’s second of the playoffs. 
San Rafael’s Giovanny Hernandez (6) and Piedmont’s Henry Devan (31) tangle during the second half of the Highlanders 2-0 win in an NCS semifinal.
“The goal initially was reach NCS and keep going from there,” Russell said. “Just win the next game, that’s as far as we can look because we never know who the opponent will be. So win the next game, do what you need to do and keep building from there.”
Said Bini, “Every single season I’ve been here for Piedmont High School is let’s win the league, let’s get NCS. No matter what, the goals are high. We have high standards for this team, we have a lot of good history in the past four years. The goal has always been to get this far and I’m really happy that we have.”