Sierra moves into women's soccer state title tilt after 3-1 win over Santiago Canyon
MISSION VIEJO - The Sierra College women's soccer team advanced to the 3C2A State Championship Game with a 3-1 win over Santiago Canyon College on Friday at Saddleback College. The Wolverines will play Golden West College on Sunday in the state finals.
Sierra came out hot, peppering the Santiago Canyon goal and taking the play to the Hawks. Sierra took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute when their leading scorer Addison Johnson found the net for an early lead. Johnson put her initial shot off the right post, but the ball caromed right back to her and she placed it into a wide-open goal for her 15th goal of the season.
The score remained the same until the 25th minute when Sierra struck again. Ashanti Madrigal sent a corner kick on goal and Santiago Canyon's keeper Makayla Worcester batted the ball towards the far post where Josie Young redirected it into the net. The goal gave Sierra a 2-0 lead and sent notice to the top seed from Southern California that they were in for a battle.
Sierra wasn't finished, scoring again when Olivia Dewey ticked the twine for her seventh goal of the season and a 3-0 lead in first-half stoppage time. It capped off a dominating half where Sierra outshot Santiago Canyon 11-3 in total shots and 8-1 in shots-on-goal.
Santiago Canyon came out hot in the second half and started to generate some offense. The Hawks cut the deficit to 3-1 when Noelle Zuvic lifted a ball over Sierra goalkeeper Alexia Holden's head to score her second goal of the season and cut into the lead. The goal seemed to give Santiago Canyon some momentum with under 35 minutes left on the clock, but the question remained if there would be enough time to mount a comeback.
The Hawks took the majority of play to the Wolverines in the final half, outshooting Sierra 14-2 over the final 45 minutes. Unfortunately for Santiago Canyon, it was too little too late as the Wolverines put a wall in front of the net and kept the Hawks from scoring any additional goals.
Sierra improved to 18-2-4 with the win. The Wolverines will now play Golden West College on Sunday in the state finals. Golden West advanced to the championship game with a 4-2 win in penalty kicks after going scoreless with Folsom Lake for 120 minutes.
Sierra and Golden West are scheduled to start at 10:00 AM on Sunday morning at Saddleback College. Neither program has ever won a state championship in women's soccer.
(Brad Hoiseth, CCCSIA)