LA JOLLA, Calif. - After the No. 18 UC San Diego women's soccer team scored early in the first half Sunday, Cal State Dominguez Hills rallied for a goal in the 71st minute and then completed the comeback with a score at the 97:52 mark to secure the overtime victory in the regular season finale. The Tritons and Toros will meet again Friday at 11 a.m. in the first round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, to be held on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock.
UCSD falls to 14-5 overall and 11-5 in the CCAA while CSUDH improves to 13-7 overall and 11-5 in league play. The season series is tied 1-1, with the Tritons defeating the Toros in Carson on Oct. 16, 2-1. The all-time series is also even at 16-16-3.
The UCSD offense exhibited its potential in the 18th minute Sunday when sophomore Anne Wethe, on a cross from freshman Jessica Wi, sent a well-placed header into the back right corner of the net to give the Tritons a 1-0 lead.
CSUDH sophomore forward Jessica Murphy, one of the top scorers in the conference, evened the contest at 70:43 when she blasted a free kick atop the center of the 18 into the upper right corner of the net. The match moved to overtime and the Toros found the goal again. On another free kick play, a header by Makenzie Pedrotti bounced to the left side of the goalmouth, where Britney Vance slid in and placed a shot past UCSD netminder Kristin Armstrong.
Shortly after Wethe's score at the 17:02 mark, the CSUDH attack put together a string of chances through the play of Murphy. Working her way past her defender, Murphy sent a low shot just left of the net at 22:21. Minutes later off a Murphy free kick, a header from Pedrotti hit the crossbar but was eventually cleared. In the 34th minute, as a result of a UCSD foul, Murphy left the game due to injury. She would return to action in the 54th minute.
Tritons' freshman midfielder Gabi Hernandez helped give her squad a chance to extend its 1-0 lead at 57:35. Stealing the ball from Paige Peel, Hernandez sent a shot just to the right of the net as Toros' goalkeeper Alyssa Congdon rushed out to cut down the angle.
Midway through the second half the CSUDH squad thought it had scores on two different occasions separated by just three minutes. In the first instance Murphy had shot it past Armstrong but was called for offside. In the second, Pedrotti had slipped the ball into the back of the net from six yards out but was whistled for a foul at the center of the box.
A hand ball just outside the Tritons' defensive zone set up the game-tying free kick for Murphy in the 71st minute and the two teams battled through until the match moved into overtime.
On the overtime scoring play at 97:52, Peel sent a free kick into the box before Pedrotti flicked a header to push it closer to the net. It found Vance in the middle of a swarm of defenders and she placed it to the left of Armstrong for the game-winner.
UCSD and CSUDH have met in the postseason the past two years. The Toros topped the Tritons in the first round of the 2007 NCAA West Regional while UCSD secured the 2008 CCAA Championship with a 3-1 win over CSUDH.
The other first-round matchup in next week's tournament will be between the North Division leader, Chico State, and the top-ranked squad in the South Division, No. 16 Cal State L.A.
