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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