NorCal soccer roundup: Maria Carrillo girls edged out on penalty kicks

Despite garnering a 9-0 shot advantage in Thursday's CIF Division II Northern California girls soccer championship semifinal contest, host No. 1 Maria Carrillo could not score in regulation or overtime and ended up losing on penalty kicks to No. 5 Woodland at Santa Rosa High.

The loss bounces the powerhouse Pumas (20-3-1) out of the NorCal tournament and ends their season.

“Hats off to Woodland; they got the job done,” Maria Carrillo coach Debra LaPrath said. “We had a great season - this (making the NorCal tournament) was gravy. We won NCS and we got two games into NorCals.”

Even so, LaPrath said Maria Carrillo could and should have won. Woodland (21-1-5) went into a defensive shell, perhaps in tacit acknowledgement that its likeliest path to victory was a shootout.

“You outshoot a team nine to zero and you can't bury it in the back of the net?” LaPrath said rhetorically. “We had a lot of shots that were high and Woodland's goalkeeper (Grace Cleaver) could handle those balls. We needed to take some lower-driven shots.”

After 80-plus minutes of scoreless regulation, there was a 15-minute scoreless “golden goal” overtime period followed by a shootout that was won 4-3 by Woodland.

“Woodland never had a single shot on frame the whole game. Our defense shut them down,” LaPrath said. “We controlled the game and the midfield. All Woodland did was (kick) the long ball.”

LaPrath said there was a “horrendous referee situation” that allowed an unusual amount of physicality and jostling in the box.

However, LaPrath stressed that the development wasn't the reason Maria Carrillo lost and it came down to the Pumas' inability to convert a plethora of chances into a goal.

“Woodland had a very good goalkeeper,” LaPrath said. “Their keeper was the strength of their team.”

Cardinal Newman 1, Sacred Heart Prep 0

The upstart No. 6 Cardinals (14-10) took to the road as they have all season and defeated the host No. 2 Fightin' Irish (15-8-3) at historic Kezar Stadium in San Francisco in a Division III semifinal game.

“Kezar was awesome; the conditions were great. It was nice playing on a grass field that was that well-manicured. It was a great atmosphere and that's where these games should be contested,” Cardinal Newman coach John Gilson said.

“The fog was an issue in the second half. The fog rolled in and it got slick out there. Both teams played a little more direct and the game wasn't played in the midfield.”

In the 24th minute, the Cardinals scored the lone goal as Ava Alvarez sent a cross from the right side that Keely Roy controlled and slotted past the onrushing Sacred Heart goalie into the right side of the nylon.

“The difficulty for Roy on that goal was dealing with the goalkeeper coming on,” Gilson said. “Roy obviously wanted it.”

The 1-0 Cardinal Newman lead held up for the second half as the teams were locked in a defensive struggle. The Cardinals held a 4-1 edge in shots on goal for the game.

“Both teams played hard, especially defensively. The game was not won or lost on a mistake,” Gilson said. “Paige Foster, our goalkeeper, played very, very well.”

The championship game will be at No. 4 Bradshaw Christian (19-1) of Sacramento at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The nomadic Cardinals have not had a true home game all season because their home field was damaged by the Tubbs fire in October of last year.

“We are used to traveling and being on the road,” Gilson said.

Since this is the inaugural year of theNorCal soccer tournament, Cardinal Newman has an opportunity to be the first winner in the postseason event's history.

“We are pretty excited about it,” Gilson said of being in the title game. “We are playing as well as we have all year. We are healthy and we feel good about ourselves.”