In most sports or any form of competition, you expect to win when you don’t allow your opponent to score a single goal or point. Unfortunately, that’s not true in soccer.
Exhibit A: The girls soccer teams from Point Loma and San Marcos high schools faced off Feb. 25 for the San Diego Section Open Division championship. For 80 minutes the No. 8 seeded Pointers and No. 4 seeded Knights battled up and down the pitch at Hilltop High as players fought for loose balls, fired passes to teammates, sprinted up the field on offense and down the field to defend.
Despite this, there was no score.
The teams lined up once more to begin a 15-minute sudden-death overtime period. That too passed with neither team finding the net.
Next was a CIF tie-breaking penalty kick session, each coach selecting five players to take penalty kicks from a spot in front of the goal against a goalkeeper attempting to defend a large net. After five rounds, the team with the most goals would be declared the winner and one goal added to their game score.
The Knights netted two balls while their goalkeeper stopped every Pointer attempt for a 2-0 PK win, a 1-0 final game score, and the Open Division title.
Exhibit B: The Pointers, by way of their stellar run in local playoffs, earned a spot in the Southern California regional playoffs, drawing the No. 7 seed and traveling to play against No. 2 Santiago High (Corona), which came in with a 22-3-3 record. Again, the Pointers erased a higher seed with a 1-0 win on an overtime goal by sophomore midfielder Gwen Rauvola on an assist by junior forward Charley Faucett.
And their next opponent? The same San Marcos team who defeated them for the CIF crown just six days earlier.
This time the Knights were seeded No. 3 and the results were a near copy of their first encounter. Again, after 95 scoreless minutes, the game went to PKs but both Rauvola and senior midfielder Erin Denney scored with the teams tied 2-2 entering the final round. But Faucett’s blast struck the crossbar and the final Knight shooter scored for yet another 1-0 victory to end the Pointers season with a record of 12-6-4.
In total, the Pointers fought the Knights for 190 minutes with neither team able to score and still came out with two losses. Pointer head coach Jose Garcia Jr. was thrilled with his team’s performance but not with the CIF’s overtime rule.
“I am extremely proud of the work these ladies put forward the entire season and throughout playoffs,” Garcia said. “The players this year had the perfect combination of talent, leadership, and grit, and when all of those come together great things happen.”
CIF rules allow for only one 15 minute overtime period, which is played under “sudden death,” with a score ending the game. A coin toss determines what direction the teams will attack.
“In the regional semifinal match against San Marcos we had to play against the (strong) wind for all the 15 minute overtime period,” Garcia explained. “We were never given the opportunity to have that (wind) advantage. I personally believe applying the FIFA overtime rules would be more appropriate.”
Those FIFA rules require two 15 minute overtime periods with a change of direction after the first. Also, goals scored do not end the match.
Still, Garcia noted his players did not feel worse after their elimination.
“After the last game the players were grateful,” Garcia recalled. “They were grateful to have the opportunity to represent their school and community at such a high level, grateful to each other for giving everything they had every game and never giving up and grateful for the memories and friendships they made along the way that surely will last a lifetime.”
Senior members of the team are goalkeeper Raya Caldwell, defenders Reese Seiger, and Abigail Bennett; midfielders Denney, Caitlin Wilson, Corinne Wilson, and Jenna Ruthven.
Juniors include defenders Helena Simms, Chesney Correia, and Davia Kerr; midfielders-forwards Rylee Larocco and Faucett; midfielders Clara Soraghan, and Amanda Myers.
Sophomores are midfielders Maddy Egan, defender-midfielder Kylie Fehrenbacher, and forward-midfielder Rauvola.
Three freshmen earned a varsity spot including defenders Mala Kranz and Amalie Jacobs and forward Marley Buddington.
Garcia was assisted by two Pointer alums. Jeremy Young, whose message was, “Don’t be average. Be savage!” Natasha Camacho-Bier, who played Div. I college soccer was also a member of the last Pointer team to win a CIF title in 2015. Camacho-Bier “set high expectations for both individual players and the team as a whole,” Garcia said.
