November 20, 2012
By Yehoshua Robles
The women’s soccer team defeated South Coast Conference rivals Long Beach City College 1-0, in overtime, earning a spot in the playoffs.
The Huskies will face the No. 2 seeded and unbeaten College of the Canyons who spots a 17-0-4 overall record, 11-0-4 in Conference play. They are ready for the Cougars they all say.
It was an intense game from the start of the whistle because both teams were playing with everything they had because this was the game that mattered the most.
The vocal crowd was feeling the energy too, by every tackle and shot that was being taken by both teams. Good defense was being shown by Justina Sandoval by making an excellent slide to get the ball out of Long Beach possession. The half ended one-all.
The second half had both teams still giving it all. None of them were slowing down and both sides were putting pressure.
In the closing minutes of the game, the Huskies had a chance to a score a goal. Jessica Guzman kicked the ball and the Long Beach Goalie saved it, leaving an open net for Leslie Rivera.
Rivera was in shock that she missed the open net. She did not let that missed goal opportunity get to her head and kept on playing strong.
Head Coach Tessa Troglia was telling her team to keep it simple in overtime.
At the seven-minute mark Guzman made a pass to Rivera, who broke a few tackles and scored the game-winning goal.
“We don’t stop playing,” Richard Coria, assistant coach, he told his team. He said did not want that goal to distract them on playing the game, because there was a lot time left in overtime. But with that goal, and the solid defense by the Huskies, they held off their LBCC to a 1-0 win.
When the final whistle was blown the Huskies were in the playoffs as a result of all the hard work they put in to make it to the playoffs. The Huskies were excited, congratulating each other.
“Excited, happy that we are in the playoffs and we are ready whoever comes,” Rivera said after the game-winning goal. “Hard fought game could not ask anything more going into playoffs,” Troglia said.
November 21 Update: Huskies fall to No. 2 in the playoffs
The Huskies, ranked No. 16 in the South Region poll, gave the No. 2-ranked team in the state, College of the Canyons, all they could handle in the first round of the playoffs last Saturday at Canyons.
The Cougars posted a 2-0 halftime lead in light rain.
The Huskies stormed back in the second half scoring a goal in the 56th minute followed by a goal three minutes later to knot the score, 2-2.
Canyons pulled out a 3-2 squeaker in the end.
The Huskies closed the season with a four games win streak including the victory over LBCC in the wild card game.
Congratulations Huskies!!