CCCAA Women's Soccer Championship welcomes four tough teams to Sacramento
CCCAA Championship Semifinals (American River College)
Tickets l Watch
(1S) Chaffey (21-0-2) vs. (2N) Fresno City, 17-2-4, Fri., 4 p.m.
(1N) San Joaquin Delta (19-3-2) vs. (2S) Saddleback (19-2-3), Fri., 7 p.m.
Championship
Sunday, Noon
Tournament Headquarters (links for video streams, recaps, photos)
SACRAMENTO - As the cliché goes, the best defense is a good offense.
But for the four women’s soccer teams converging on American River College for the California Community College Athletic Association Championships this weekend, a great defense complemented each of those good offenses.
None of the final four teams – Chaffey and Saddleback from the South and San Joaquin Delta and Fresno from the North – allowed more than 13 goals on their march to the state semifinals. And they scored plenty on the way as well.
At the top of the list is the team that was voted on as No. 1 in the state for most of the season – the South’s top seed, Chaffey College. The Panthers are the lone women’s team to finish the season undefeated. They come into the semifinals on a 17-game winning streak, with only two draws on their record.
The Panthers have outscored teams 81-8 on the season. Doing a good portion of that damage up front is Kayla Bergin, who finished the season with 21 goals and three assists. She had support from Sydney Cotter’s 11 goals and four assists, while both Serenity DeLaTorre and Julia Galdamez finished the season with eight goals and four assists. In goal for most of those wins this season has been Autumn Gomez. In 19 starts, Gomez has only allowed five goals, making 45 saves and posting a goals-against average of 0.30.
Chaffey will take on the tournament’s lowest remaining seed in the semifinals – Fresno City College. The Rams come into the final four having knocked off the North’s top seed in Folsom Lake 3-1 last Saturday.
Fresno is the lowest-scoring team in the field, only notching 67 goals on the season. But they come in on a 15-game unbeaten streak, winning their final four of the stretch. Up front, the Rams had a more balanced attack, with Sarah Cox leading the team with 10 goals and five assists. Kellyanne Rodriguez added eight goals and four assists, and Jazmin Mora adding seven goals and five assists.
In goal, Fresno has split time between a pair of goalkeepers. Riley Pointer has nine wins in 11 games, while Audrey Haman has eight wins in 12 games. All told, the Rams have only conceded 12 goals on the season.
The team second happiest to see Fresno advance is the North’s top remaining seed, San Joaquin Delta. Two of Delta’s three losses on the season were to top-seeded Folsom Lake, which Fresno dispatched 3-1 to advance.
Delta has scored the most goals of teams playing this weekend, with 92, conceding only 13. They have three players in double figures in goal-scoring on the season, led by Michaela Clark, who has 21 goals and 15 assists. Coming off the bench most the season, Katie Garcia scored 13 goals. And Kaley Miller, who had 12 goals with nine assists.
In goal, freshman Eden Iyall has started the last three games for the Mustangs after spending most of the season splitting time with sophomore Malia Allen.
Saddleback, Delta’s opponent in the semifinals, had to battle through the tough Orange Empire Conference to reach the No. 3 seed in the south, then had to beat two of their conference foes (Cypress and Santiago Canyon) to make it to the final four.
The Bobcats have only lost twice on the season – avenging one of the losses by eliminating Santiago Canyon, and an early September loss to Chaffey. They have outscored opponents 82-13 on the season, with three players having posted double-digit goal-scoring totals. Lizbeth de Loera has scored 16 on the season, with six assists, while Chloe Green has 14 goals and five assists, Kylie Beu has 11 goals and six assists.
In the back, Jaime-Lynne Clark has logged most of the time in goal, only conceding five goals, posting a goals-against average of 0.30.
(Bill Norris, CCCSIA)