Folsom Lake downs Cypress 2-1 for second straight 3C2A Women's Soccer Championship

Tournament Central

SACRAMENTO – Grace Pratt and Madi Stroh each had first-half goals for Folsom Lake College and the scores went a long way in delivering the Falcons their second straight 3C2A Women's Soccer Championship during a 2-1 win over Cypress College on a sunny Sunday afternoon at American River College.

The Falcons picked up their 12^th consecutive win to finish their remarkable season with a 23-1-2 overall record. Cypress, which lost a heart-breaker to Folsom Lake in penalty kicks in last year's state championship at Mt. San Antonio College, saw its streak of nine straight wins snapped. The Chargers ended their impressive season with a 21-2-3 mark.

"It feels amazing," said Folsom Lake head coach Donny Ribaudo of the back-to-back titles. "We're super proud of all the players and all the coaches. It's just a significant achievement for our college and for our athletic department and for our program. The strength of the team is the team and you could see it today as we tapped into the bench and all the players that had to step up and play different roles to make it happen."

The Falcons put the first goal into the back of the net in just the 11^th minute on a brilliant connection from Kamaya Yazzie, whose pass from just past midfield split the Cypress defense and found Pratt who hit a spectacular left-footed shot into the goal from 30 yards.

The 44^th minute brought more drama, this time on a penalty kick. Tiayiza Arredondo had a close shot from the left side of the box for Folsom Lake which was brilliantly stopped by Cypress goalkeeper Sofia Lopez. The rebound came back to Arredondo whose follow-up attempt found the arms of a defender, giving a penalty kick to the Falcons. Stroh nailed it from there and a 2-0 advantage.

Cypress, however, wasn't about to go quietly and came storming back in the 58^th minute when Naomi Lee threaded her way through the defense on the right side and crossed a ball from just outside the box to the left post. Amber Mielke came in to try and head it in but was fouled. Megan Alcantara converted the penalty to slice the deficit in half.

The Chargers kept the pressure on, getting four shots on goal the rest of the game but each was saved by Linnea Sybersma. Included were three shots over the final five minutes with a pair of saves from Sybersma.

Alcantara had four shots to lead the Chargers, including two of them on goal.

"Credit to Cypress, they're a quality program and a very difficult opponent, so this is significant for us," Ribaudo said.

Folsom Lake is the first back-to-back champion since Santiago Canyon in 2018 and 2019. The last Northern California program to win consecutive titles was De Anza in 1993 and 1994.

Hope Northrup was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

(Mike Robles, 3C2A)