POMONA, Calif. - UC San Diego capitalized on mistakes and firmly grabbed the upper hand before withstanding a very late rally attempt to edge Stanislaus State, 3-2, in the final of the 2015 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women's Soccer Tournament at Kellogg Field on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona Sunday.
The result meant a CCAA-record ninth tournament banner for longtime head coach Brian McManus' Tritons in their 15th appearance in the event, and first since 2012. They were picked by league head coaches to finish seventh in the preseason.
UCSD, the designated home team as the higher seed at fourth, is a winner of six straight and eight of nine, now 15-5-1 overall. Sixth-seeded Stanislaus State, the reigning West Region champion, had its 2015 campaign ended at 12-6-3. The Warriors had won three in a row coming in, all via shutout.
UCSD earns the CCAA's automatic berth in the 2015 NCAA Championship. It marks a 13th appearance in the Division II tournament for the program, and also first since 2012. That selection show can be seen live on NCAA.com on Monday, Nov. 9, at 3:30 p.m. PT. UCSD remained in the fourth spot in Wednesday's next-to-last regional poll, with six squads from the West making the field.
Though the early action was on the Tritons' offensive end, most of all through the efforts of sophomore Jordyn McNutt (San Diego/University City HS) on the right wing, neither team had a very dangerous chance through the first 17 minutes.
UCSD was then basically gifted the opener at 17:36 after being called for offside. Warrior goalkeeper Chelsea Lewandowski took the free kick from inside her own area, but sent it straight to Mary Reilly (Chula Vista/Hilltop HS) about 10 yards in front of her. The CCAA Freshman of the Year took a settling touch with her left from the top of the box, and calmly rolled her right-footed shot into the net vacated by Lewandowski, into the bottom left corner. It was Reilly's league-leading 11th goal.
Pretty much right off the kickoff, it was almost 2-0, as redshirt sophomore Maxia Espino (Chula Vista) stole the ball and expertly fed former Hilltop High School teammate Reilly on the left flank. Reilly galloped across the middle before passing to McNutt, who crossed from the right. Fellow sophomore Elisa Martinez (El Cajon/Francis Parker School) had her flashing header go just wide to the left.
UCSD doubled the lead and took a player advantage in the 25th minute, when Nichole Donald took Reilly down from behind as she streaked one-on-one toward goal. The play began with senior goalkeeper Kelcie Brodsky's punt that Martinez nodded forward. Donald misjudged the path of the ball and let Reilly through, ultimately getting left with little choice but to foul her. As the last defender, she was issued a red-card ejection. McNutt stepped up and coolly went right-footed high to the right past Lewandowski. It was her fourth on the year, and second from the spot.
The red card served as some irony, as the Tritons finished with just nine players due to two of them but still held the Warriors off for a big 1-0 home win in the regular-season meeting this season on Sept. 27. In fact, the last three red cards for UCSD going back to 2014, all came against Stanislaus State.
Just past the half-hour mark, freshman reserve winger Summer Bales sent a pass on the ground down her left flank for Katie O'Laughlin (Carlsbad/Pacific Ridge School) to run onto. O'Laughlin flat-out beat the defender on her back, rounding her with ease toward the end line before crossing, but nobody was there.
In the 54th minute, UCSD essentially put the game out of reach. The Tritons earned a corner kick on the left side, and specialist McNutt boomed her right-footer across the goalmouth and off the far post. The ball hit a Warrior defender in the back of the leg, and trickled over the goal line for a 3-0 bulge. It was ruled an own goal.
Within minutes, Reilly unleashed a wicked right-footer from the left diagonal that Lewandowski went vertical for to tip the shot off the crossbar and away. In the 63rd, Reilly crossed from the left onto O'Laughlin's path, but her sliding attempt went well high and wide to the right.
Two quick strikes by Stan State made for a slightly-nervous final 3:33. Gabriela Vargas' bicycle kick was blocked before Nicole Larson slotted the rebound into the bottom left corner at 85:50. Then Kirsten Coleman latched onto a through ball and similarly tucked her opportunity low to the left at 86:27, with assists going to Vargas and Jordan Moineau. From there, however, the Tritons were able to shut the door.
Brodsky needed to make a single save, but was the deserving Most Valuable Defensive Player for the tournament based off of her 10 saves in Friday's shutout semifinal victory over regular-season champion Sonoma State. Fellow senior Lewandowski had three stops in the Warrior net.
Redshirt junior co-captain Kiera Bocchino, who scored a two-goal brace on Friday, was named the CCAA Tournament Most Valuable Offensive Player, with McNutt, O'Laughlin, Reilly and UCSD's other junior co-captain, center back Meghan Berry, all earning selection to the All-Tournament Team.
UCSD improved to 8-0-1 in CCAA finals, having taken home the banner in all nine prior appearances in the title match. Stanislaus State was after its third CCAA tournament championship, with the Warriors also previously undefeated in finals, winning 4-0 in 2011 and 2-0 in 2013, both times in Turlock. The first CCAA tournament was in 1998.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 17-4-4 all-time in 15 appearances at the CCAA Tournament ... The Tritons are 2-1 against Stanislaus State in CCAA tourney games, and 13-5-2 all-time ... UCSD fielded the exact same starting 11 for the sixth consecutive match ... The Tritons have posted six shutouts over the last nine games ... Kelcie Brodsky increased her program-record career saves total to 383 ... Mary Reilly has tallied the most goals by a Triton since Annette Ilg's 11 in 2010 ... Reilly and Katie O'Laughlin, with 21 goals combined, are UCSD's top duo since Kelly Cochran and Kathy Sepulveda had 12 each for 24 together in 2006 ... Stan State had strung together 314:57 of shutout soccer when Reilly opened the scoring at 17:36 on Sunday ... UCSD out-scored its three tourney opponents, 10-3 ... The Tritons have out-scored opponents 18-3 during their six-game win streak ... UCSD's win streak is its longest since taking seven in a row to begin the 2012 season ... The Tritons have led 3-0 at one point in each of their last three contests ... Among the former UCSD standouts at Kellogg Field for Sunday's final were Cassie Callahan, Alexa Enlow, Sarah (McTigue) Frontiera, Kiley Leshin, Annie Wethe and Ellen Wilson.
2015 CCAA Tournament All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Defensive Player - Kelcie Brodsky, UC San Diego
Most Valuable Offensive Player - Kiera Bocchino, UC San Diego
Meghan Berry, UC San Diego
Jordyn McNutt, UC San Diego
Katie O'Laughlin, UC San Diego
Mary Reilly, UC San Diego
Nicole Larson, Stanislaus State
Chelsea Lewandowski, Stanislaus State
Maryssa McDuffy, Stanislaus State
Jordan Moineau, Stanislaus State
Margi Osmundson, Sonoma State
#TritonsRising
