The No. 17 UC San Diego women’s soccer team extended its season by at least one game by winning their fifth California Collegiate Athletic Association title in the last six years over Cal State Dominguez Hills by a score of 4-3 on Nov. 6 in Turlock, Calif.
With the win, the Tritons earned themselves a spot in the NCAA Division II Far West Regional Bracket, which begins play on Nov. 11. The CCAA champions are granted an automatic spot in the D-II Tournament and the Tritons fought off the Toros to earn the bid, forcing Cal State Dominguez Hills into waiting on the fate of their season.
Sophomore forward Kathy Sepulveda was the unlikely hero of the evening for the Tritons, notching her first goal of the year at the most opportune time. Sepulveda scored an unassisted goal in the 15th minute on the Toros’ freshman goalkeeper Lisa Agramonte to give the Tritons the slim lead.
The Toros bounced back as Candace Hearn took advantage of the Tritons own freshman netminder, Mia Shirley, with an unassisted goal and knotted the championship game up at the 19:43 mark of the first half.
The Tritons fought to avoid a halftime tie and succeeded with a go ahead goal in the 37th minute off a penalty kick from freshman forward Natasha Belak-Berger. It was Belak-Berger’s seventh goal of the year, giving her the most goals of all UCSD freshmen this season.
Sophomore midfielder Lauren Segars came into the match with three goals on the year, but added two more to her total by tallying a pair of crucial goals in the second half of the title game. She gave the Tritons the 3-1 lead off a pass from Caitlin Ryan in the 53rd minute, then extended the lead to three with an unassisted goal right before the 60-minute mark.
Thirty minutes away from the CCAA title and holding a 4-1 lead, the Tritons looked completely in control of the match. However, last year’s CCAA champions retained hope of defending their title and made the Tritons hold on to the very end by climbing within one goal of the Tritons off two late scores.
Cal State Dominguez Hills’ Brittny McDonald scored two goals of her own within four minutes of each other to bring the Toros within striking distance.
Her first goal came from 11 yards out, as she angled the ball past Shirley and past the far post. Her sister, Rachel McDonald, assisted her on the first score and gave her a one-time pass for Brittny’s second goal and Rachel’s second assist of the night.
Despite the McDonald sisters’ valiant comeback efforts, the Tritons held on in the second half, taking the title from the Toros and giving their seniors at least one more game to play together.
The Triton seniors’ season would have been over on Nov. 4, however, had they not pulled off a narrow 1-0 victory over Chico State in the CCAA semifinals to advance to the title game.
“We were a little sloppy in the first half, but after [sophomore] Caitlin Ryan’s corner kick and the incredible header by [junior] Megan Dickey, we went after the Wildcats,” head coach Brian McManus said.
With the news of her CCAA Most Valuable Player award still fresh in her mind, Dickey showed why she deserved the honor, netting her 13th goal of the season.
The offensive bonanza provided by the Tritons in the second half contrasted to the lackluster efforts that the team showed during parts of the first half.
“The Wildcats pounded on us all the time for about 15 minutes in the first half,” junior Kelly Cochran said.
Dickey’s efforts produced all the offense necessary for the Tritons’ win and was significant as it was her third game-winner of the season and the eighth of her three-year career.
The goal came at the 55-minute, five-second mark of the second half, after Ryan provided the assist off a corner kick, sending a pass across the box.
Dickey then headed it past Chico State’s sophomore goalie Kari Gonzales to mark the sole goal of the game.
“In the second half, we were threatening all the time and we took advantage of the situation,” Cochran said.
In almost every statistical category, UCSD edged out Chico State.
UCSD out-shot the Wildcats by a 13-6 margin and took four more corner kicks in the match.
Another noteworthy performance came from Shirley, who recorded her seventh shutout of the season.
Shirley made three saves on the night, while Gonzales was only able to make one save.
“Everyone played excellent defense and we pulled it together really well,” Cochran said.
Not only did the two wins give the Tritons the CCAA Championship and improve their final season record to 17-3-0, but it also improved UCSD’s record in CCAA tournament play to 10-1-0 since joining the league in 2000.
