TURLOCK, Calif. - After battling No. 2 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills to a 1-1 draw through regulation and two overtime periods, the third-seeded UC San Diego women's soccer team dropped its CCAA Championship Semifinal match with the Toros in penalty kicks Friday afternoon at Cal State Stanislaus' Warrior Stadium.
Cal State Dominguez Hills (13-7-1) won the PK shootout 5-3 and will now advance to Sunday's Championship match against the winner of No. 1 Cal State L.A. and No. 4 Chico State.
The Tritons (14-5-1), who found themselves on the wrong end of a matchup with the Toros for the second time in six days, will now await Monday's announcement of the NCAA Tournament field to see if their season continues.
After each team netted one goal apiece in regulation, the match went to a shootout, marking the second year in a row UCSD's CCAA First Round contest would be decided on PKs.
CSUDH elected to shoot first after winning the coin toss and defender Paige Peel buried the first shot to give the Toros an early advantage. The Tritons' first shooter was sophomore midfielder
Anne Wethe, who sailed her kick high and to the right, giving Dominguez a 1-0 lead after the first round.
The next three PKs were successful on both sides, as Mackenzie Pedrotti, Brooke Thompson, and Karina Jahn made their shots for the Toros, while
Lisa Bradley,
Sara Bolton, and
Alyssa Newcomer converted for UCSD.
Jessica Murphy was the fifth and final shooter for CSUDH, needing a successful kick to seal the victory. After the previous four shooters had gone left, Murphy went right, beating UCSD keeper
Kristin Armstrong for the decisive PK.
"I thought we played extrememely well, especially in the second half," head coach
Brian McManus said. "You've got to give Dominguez credit. They were very well prepared and they had an excellent plan if it went to PKs. We missed one shot and that was the difference."
CSUDH jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 35th minute. After a Triton foul, Peel took a free kick from 35 yards out, sending a towering ball towards the box. Armstrong charged to make a play on the ball, but it sailed over her head untouched and bounced into the back of the net for the matches' first score.
Trailing at intermission, the Tritons came out attacking in the second half, with freshman defender
Danielle Dixon recording a pair of shots in the first three and a half minutes of the period.
It didnt take long for
Jessica Wi to put the Tritons on the board, as the freshman midfielder scored the equalizer at the 52:43 mark. After a shot by
Shelby Wong was deflected back into the box, Wi came charging in and punched it home past Toro goalkeeper Alyssa Congdon for her fourth goal of the season.
Wong, who took two shots on the play, was credited with an assist, her fifth of 2009.
UCSD went on to outshoot CSUDH 13-7 in regulation, including 8-3 in the second half, while the Toros recorded all three shots in overtime. The Tritons held a 6-2 advantage on corner kicks through 110 minutes of play.
UCSD failed to advance past the semifinal finals for just the third time in nine CCAA Championship appearances. The Tritons' last loss in the semis was a 2-1 decision to Cal State L.A. in 2007.
In 2008, The Tritons outlasted San Francisco State 5-4 in penalty kicks in the CCAA Semifinals, before defeating the Toros 3-1 to capture a seventh conference tournament title.
On Sunday, following CSULA's 4-0 rout of CSUDH in the CCAA title match, the All-Tournament Team was announced. The roster included Wi, who knocked in the goal in the 53rd minute to tie Friday's match.
2009 CCAA All-Tournament Team
Sara Steele (Chico State)
Jessica Wi (UC San Diego)
Kelly Melanson (Cal State L.A.)
Jessie Walworth (Cal State L.A.)
Brooke Thompson (Cal State Dominguez Hills)
Jasmin Tuemper (Cal State L.A.)
Paige Peel (Cal State L.A.)
Amanda Matthews (Cal State L.A.)
Ann Marie Tangorra (Cal State L.A.)
Caroline Hanna (Cal State L.A.) (Most Outstanding Defensive Player)
Liz Franco (Cal State L.A.) (Most Outstanding Offensive Player)
