With three of the four top-seeded teams doing down to defeat in the opening quarterfinal round of this year’s San Diego Section Open Division girls soccer playoffs, it seemed that no team was safe from premature elimination.
When eighth-seeded West Hills took a 1-0 lead on fourth-seeded Eastlake in the second half of Tuesday’s semifinal match at Stan Canaris Stadium, the host Lady Titans and their fans had to experience a rather unpleasant sinking feeling.
Would their team be the next to fall as an upset victim?
But Eastlake, the lone team not to fall to a lower-seeded team in the division quarterfinals, took the situation to heart.
Fast forward past a game-tying goal by Kasandra Corral, a scoreless overtime period and a climactic kicks-from-the-mark shootout win and the Lady Titans find themselves on the brink of creating history at the east side Chula Vista school.
Eastlake (18-5-3) will meet seventh-seeded Steele Canyon (12-6-6) in Friday’s Open Division championship game at Mission Bay High School. Game time is 5 p.m.
It’s a chance for a rare championship double for the Lady Titans after winning last year’s Division I championship.
That fact certainly isn’t lost on head coach Mark Coziahr.
“I’m excited for the chance for the girls from last year to have a chance to win another championship,” the EHS coach said after Tuesday’s marathon match played amid frigid temperatures during a passing winter storm.
“I’m so proud of everyone. West Hills is a great team. Our girls stepped up for each other. It stinks that one of these teams had to lose.”
Braced by 12 returners from last year’s Division I championship squad, the Lady Titans were certainly a well-fortified team with experience throughout the lineup to overcome adversity.
West Hills took a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute on a beautifully placed direct free kick by junior Taylor Gomez. The shot came from the top of the defensive arc, about 28 yards out, and hit the back of the net high over Eastlake goalkeeper Gloriana Hinojosa.
The Lady Titans began to link together more productive passes and increase the speed of their attack, thereby reducing excessive touches. The hosts’ effort was rewarded 14 minutes later with the equalizing goal by Corral after she took a through ball from teammate Britney Buu, slipped past the West Hills defense and found herself alone against Lady Wolf Pack Makenzie Hildreth.
Facing one final player to beat, Corral did not miss on her point-blank shot.
Both teams had equal opportunity to net the game-winner in the golden goal overtime, but the extra period ended in a scoreless standoff to necessitate the dreaded KFM tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker does not always reward the best team on the pitch.
Eastlake received instant momentum when the first shooter for West Hills missed high over the crossbar with her shot.
Jennifer Pham promptly scored for the Lady Titans to give the host team a 1-0 lead.
The next five players each scored shootout goals to tie the score 3-3.
Hildreth, however, dropped low to stop MacKenzie Kimmel’s shot to deny Eastlake the go-ahead shootout goal.
Hinojosa then came up big with a save on West Hills’ fifth shooter, Emily Diprima, to position her team for the tiebreaker win.
Eastlake’s Marissa Garcia calmly approached the ball and placed her shot it just beyond the reach of Hildreth, who guessed correctly by driving to her right, to notch the game-winning shootout tally.
The Lady Titans won the tiebreaker 4-3.
“When I went up to the ball I realized that if I made the kick we would go to the championship game,” Garcia related. “I was nervous but we practiced PKs all through the week and it paid off.”
“We work on seeing the ball before we kick it,” Coziahr said.
Olivia Sekimoto and Krista Eberle also scored shootout goals for Eastlake.
The KFM victory by Eastlake snapped a 10-game winning streak by West Hills (10-11-4), a team that caught fire at the tail end of the season and delivered a 1-0 upset win over top-seeded Torrey Pines (16-2-6) in the quarterfinals.
Steele Canyon enters Friday’s division final with two upset wins in the playoffs. The Lady Cougars defeated sixth-seeded Poway, 1-0, on an overtime goal by junior Savannah Thompson in Tuesday’s other semifinal match.
Steele Canyon advances to the Open Division title game for the second consecutive year. The Lady Cougars lost, 1-10, to Torrey Pines in last year’s final.
Despite Tuesday’s loss, West Hills’ season was not over. All teams that qualify for the Open Division semifinals receive the right to play a state regional playoff seeding game. West Hills was scheduled to play Poway (14-6-4) on Thursday.
The state regional playoffs kick off Tuesday, March 6, with quarterfinal matches and continue with semifinal matches on Thursday, March 8. The highest-remaining seed will host the regional championship game on March 10.
Getting their kicks
Two Metro Conference soccer teams will play for division championships this weekend.
Third-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (15-5-2) will meet fifth-seeded Ramona (12-12-3) in Saturday’s Division IV championship game after the Lady Crusaders defeated seventh-seeded High Tech High San Diego, 3-2, in Tuesday’s semifinals.
The Division IV final is scheduled at 11 a.m. at La Jolla High School.
Sixth-seeded Olympian lost, 1-0, at second-seeded El Camino in Tuesday’s Division II girls semifinal.
