THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Cal Lutheran women's soccer team lost in heartbreaking fashion as they conceded a golden goal in overtime to fall to the Whittier Poets in the semifinal game of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament. The final score was 3-2 and Whittier advanced to the SCIAC Championship game.
The match started with some very physical play from both sides as a total of 15 fouls were tallied in the first half. Alexandra Albaeck was shown a yellow card in the 32nd minute for an aggressive challenge.
Whittier did not have a shot on goal in the first half as the Cal Lutheran defense held strong on the back line.
The Regals got out to a commanding 1-0 lead in the 50th minute when Olivia Leyva sent a pass to Sam Cornejo who controlled the ball and quickly put it in the back of the net.
The Poets scored the equalizer less than three minutes later when Miranda Yzabal scored with a well-placed finish after Lauren Kai delivered a lobbed pass and picked up the assist.
The momentum shifted back towards the Violet and Gold in the 66th minute when Cornejo capitalized on an error from the Whittier goalkeeper and wasted no time to tap the ball into the net to give the Regals a 2-1 advantage. It was her second goal of the game.
A physical sequence of play in the 74th minute led to a twist to the action as Albaeck was shown her second yellow card and then a red and sent off the field. The Regals would be forced to play with just 10 players for the remainder of the match.
Whittier showed some great fight to draw level for a second time when Andrea Aldama fired a long shot from outside the box into the top left corner of the goal to level the score at 2-2 with just over 10 minutes left to play in regulation.
The score remained tied and the game would head to two 10-minute overtime periods and a goal would end the match and instantly give the goal-scoring team a win and a spot in the SCIAC Championship game.
Three minutes into the first overtime period, the Poets found that winning goal when Aldama lobbed a long shot that was initially corralled by goalkeeper Gabby Flores, but the ball was then mishandled and it just barely crossed over the goal line. The own goal gave Whittier the thrilling road victory to advance to the SCIAC Championship game.
Cal Lutheran's (15-3-2, 11-1-2 SCIAC) season rests with an NCAA committee and needs an at-large bid to compete in the Regional Tournament. The committee will make their selections on Monday, Nov. 6.
Box Score: WC 3, CLU 2
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#
Sport IG: https://www.instagram.com/regals_soccer/
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Sport Twitter: https://twitter.com/CLUwSoccer
CLU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports
Hashtags: #clusports #ownthethrone #goregals #gokingsmen #theSCIAC #ncaad3
Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director / Jeff Rebello (Student Intern)