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St. Margaret’s ran into a little déjà vu when its CIF Southern California Regional girls soccer semifinal went to penalty kicks Thursday evening. It was, head coach Johnny Marmelstein said, the best thing that could gave happened to his team.
The Tartans (21-1-6) pulled out a 6-5 victory in the tiebreaker after a scoreless draw with visiting Ramona to advance to Saturday’s Division IV final in Pasadena with La Salle. That’s a rematch of last weekend’s Southern Section Division 4 title game, also on La Salle’s home field, which St. Margaret’s dropped on penalties.
“It’s a chance to go back there, a chance to test ourselves again,” said Marmelstein, whose first three treks to the Southern California Regional, in 2008, 2011 and 2014, ended in the opening round. “It’s an opportunity to make things right.
“We absolutely, 100 percent (wanted La Salle again).”
The Lancers (17-5-2) also needed spot kicks to reach the final, outfiring Southern Section Division 5 runner-up Westridge, 4-3, after a 1-1 tie.
La Salle’s triumph last weekend wasn’t without controversy. The referees gave the Lancers a second try during the penalty sequence after a save by Kennedy Barlow, ruling that the St. Margaret’s goalkeeper had advanced from the goal line before the shot had been taken. The subsequent conversion aided a 4-2 advantage.
It happened again Thursday. The Tartans’ first five shooters — Charlotte Jones, Ella Kang, Lauren Otterbein, Jasper Adams and Andi Carnell — converted their penalties, but Barlow kept out Ramona’s fifth attempt to, apparently, send St. Margaret’s to the final. She again was judged to have come off her line too early, Ramona (16-7-5) put away the do-over, and the tiebreaker went to the sixth round.
Layla Shakerin provided the Tartans a 6-5 lead, and Barlow then snuffed Georgia Goldstein’s attempt to end it.
The call in the La Salle game, Marmelstein said, “really rattled” the junior goalkeeper, “but this time she kept her cool.”
Barlow was the key figure in a game in which St. Margaret’s created myriad chances but couldn’t find the net while limiting the San Diego Section Division IV titlist behind a strong defensive performance.
Marmelstein said The Tartans had at least a dozen opportunities, “but we just couldn’t finish,” and after 80 minutes’ regulation and 20 more of overtime, the penalty spot decided the winner.
“You know what, I don’t think I’d want it any other way,” Marmelstein said. “For Kennedy, it’s what she needed to regain her confidence. To watch her grow from that time, not that many days ago, was (so rewarding).”
In other girls regional semifinals:
West Hills 1, Sunny Hills 0: The Lancers’ bid for a second successive regional title game ended in overtime, when Brooke Flores knocked home a rebound to send the San Diego Section Open Division semifinalist to the Division II title game.
Sunny Hills (22-2-5), the Southern Section Division 2 champion, was the division’s top seed.
West Hills (12-8-7), from Santee, will play at Mira Costa (23-2-3), a 4-2 winner over Long Beach Poly, in Saturday’s final. The second-seeded Mustangs lost to Sunny Hills in the Southern Section final.
In a boys regional semifinal:
Troy 1, Bakersfield Foothill 0: The visiting Warriors (17-8-5) reached their first regional soccer title game as Manuel Tovar tallied in the final minute of overtime in a Division IV clash.
The sequence started with a ball out of midfield into space on the right for Jason Yoon, who beat a defender in the box and fed Eduardo Ramirez in the goalmouth. Ramirez, in the middle of a crowd, couldn’t get off an effective shot, but the ball ricocheted toward the right post, where Tovar put away the golden goal.
Goalkeeper Luis Garcia made three saves for his fifth shutout of the season, aided by a strong defensive effort that kept Foothill (21-2-7), the Central Section Division 4 champs, from effective penetration.
Troy, runner-up to Fullerton in the Freeway League and Rialto in Southern Section Division 4, will be home for the regional final against Sierra Vista (25-2-1), a 5-2 winner over Rialto. The Baldwin Park school won the Southern Section Division 5 championship.
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