Friday, December 2, 2011

Women's Soccer Finishes Year with Top Three Finish at State Tournament

Cypress made an impressive run through the playoffs to reach the State Finals.
Sacramento, Calif. - Cypress College women's soccer finished off a great 2011 season with a top-three finish in the CCCAA final rankings after coming up a little short in a 2-0 loss to Santa Rosa Junior College (19-1-3), in the California Community College Women's Soccer State Championship Tournament semi-finals at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, Calif. on Friday.

The Chargers (15-5-4) earned their spot as one of the last four women’s soccer team’s standing after coming up with three big wins in the CCCAA Southern Regional playoffs. Their wins included two road shutout victories over L.A. Pierce College, and Ventura College in the first two rounds of the playoffs, and a win in PK’s over San Bernardino Valley College in the Super Regionals to advance to the State Tourney
In Friday’s semi-final matchup, Cypress came out of the gate aggressive on offense, and put some early pressure on a tough Santa Rosa defense that came into the game with just one loss on the year. The Cubs defense was able to withstand the Chargers’ initial attack, and the Cypress defense was able to hold SRJC’s normally explosive offense scoreless for much of the first half.

Courtney Rebeta finally found a way to score for Santa Rosa on a play in front of the net that just managed to slip by the Chargers’ sophomore keeper Kayla Neujahr at the end of the first half to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the game.

The game remained a defensive battle heading into halftime with neither team able to get much going offensively.

After the break, the Chargers continued to attack the net looking to draw the match even, but weren’t able to catch a break on any shot they took.

It looked like Cypress might be able to pull off one of their signature come-from-behind victories after keeping it a 1-0 contest late into the game, but unfortunately this time, it wasn’t in the cards for the Chargers.

Santa Rosa picked up an insurance goal to take a 2-0 lead over Cypress when Cara Curtin got a steal at midfield, and scored on a breakaway with only a few minutes to go in the game.

A couple of late scoring attempts by Cypress were off the mark, and Santa Rosa Junior College held on for a 2-0 victory to advance to the State Championship Final on Sunday at 10 a.m. The Cubs will face off against Santiago Canyon College for the state title, after the Hawks topped City College of San Francisco 2-0 in the other semi-final matchup.

Although the Chargers weren’t able to achieve their ultimate goal of winning a fourth state crown, they can hold their heads up high after finishing the year as one of only four teams to reach the CCCAA State Championship Tournament.

With this year’s talented group of freshmen returning to Cypress College to play as sophomores, and a few top recruits already committed for the 2012 season, Cypress College’s return to the State Championship Tournament looks like it will be the first of many in a new streak of appearances at the Final Four. The last time the Chargers began a new streak to the State Tourney, they went 12 straight years, won three state titles, and earned a national championship.

  • Check out this Photogallery from the Semi-Final game that's up on on Flickr.

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