The Palo Alto High School girls’ soccer team learned today that they will face disqualification from the Central Coast Section playoffs after a player violated a rule regarding participation in a national soccer camp.

Players were devastated to hear the news that they cannot advance in the CCS playoffs, according to junior forward Sunny Lyu.

“We were so excited to play in Saturday’s game, and we deserved to play,” Lyu said. “Our situation is unfortunate.”

Because of her participation in a USA national team camp, it was against the rules for the undisclosed member of the team to participate in the match against San Benito, according to senior co-captain Erin Chang. Unaware of her ineligibility, she did play and helped Paly to a 5-0 victory, team members said.

“Our player, the Paly administration and the rest of our team was under the impression that the camp had been approved,” Chang said. “It [the violation] was not called to our attention until after our first CCS game had been played and other national-level players had been suspended.”

Despite the disappointing finish, Lyu was satisfied with the season on the whole.

“It was so gratifying to play with such a talented and hard-working team,” Lyu said.  “We could have gone really far in CCS.”

The team went 11-0-1 in league and 13-5-2 overall, winning a single playoff game against San Benito before hearing the news of their disqualification.