Girls soccer: Marin Academy falls into early hole in finals loss
When Cardinal Newman netted its third goal of the first half on Friday, the Marin Academy girls soccer team was in a hole that even it couldn’t climb out of.
Top-seeded MA got one goal back and came close to scoring a second with about 20 minutes to play but ultimately were held at bay by the No. 15 Cardinals, falling 3-1 at home in the North Coast Section Division II championship game.
Both teams had already punched their tickets to next week’s NorCal playoffs. The seeding meeting for NorCals takes place on Sunday.
“We went into halftime down three goals so we knew coming out of the half that we needed to change the energy,” MA coach Sarah Rafanelli said.
MA had rallied twice for victories earlier in the playoffs, escaping a 4-2 hole to win 5-4 in overtime in the quarterfinals then overturning a late deficit in penalties in the semifinals. Before the Wildcats (20-3-1) could mount any kind of a comeback against Cardinal Newman (11-10-1), they needed a big save from goalie Alegra Huck, who came in for the second half.
Huck made a strong save on a shot from Bella D’Amico – scorer of Cardinal Newman’s first goal – in the 43rd minute to keep MA within striking distance.
“Its really hard, especially as a keeper, to get subbed in after sitting for a half,” Rafanelli said. “It’s a testament to her staying really focused and involved during the time she was on the bench then she goes in and it was seamless. She got tested right away and made a huge save. I thought she did great.
“(Starting goalie Aggie Robinson) played great as well, so that change was more about just mixing it up and trying to change our dynamic a bit to give the team a boost and a different look to try and generate something.”
MA got the lifeline it needed in the 48th minute when Raya Leikin found Kacy Walker for a header that trimmed the deficit to 3-1.
MA maintained the pressure throughout the early stages of the first half and generated a big chance in the 60th minute. Cardinal Newman had limited MA to just a couple of set pieces in the game to that point but conceded one just inside its own half.
Leikin served a dangerous ball into the box that bounced just in front of several Wildcats who were crashing the goal to try to get a touch to it. The ball bounced high off the turf and threatened to go in under the crossbar until Cardinal Newman goalie Sofia Kerrigan – who plays club soccer for Marin FC – went up high and nudged the ball over her bar for a corner.
“(Leikin) served a great ball in,” Rafanelli said. “She did a great job with the service there. It really could have been a momentum change for us. All of a sudden it’s just a one-goal game.”
MA had a few free kicks and corners down the stretch but never generated another look that truly threatened Cardinal Newman’s goal. Instead, it was the Cardinals who came closest to scoring again when D’Amico rattled the crossbar on a shot from outside the 18-yard box in the 75th minute.
“I think this is the fourth time we have played MA,” said Cardinal Newman coach John Gilson, referring to the teams’ recent playoff history. “Three times in the final and once in a semifinal and it’s always a battle. It’s more than soccer because it becomes emotional, right, and there’s history to it.”
Emotions flared in the first half when Cardinal Newman was awarded a penalty kick in the 24th minute after a Cardinal was pushed in the back inside the box. MA had wanted a call on a similar play outside the box on the other end of the field a few minutes prior that would have afforded Leikin – MA’s set-piece specialist – what would have been her best look at goal in the game.
D’Amico slotted her penalty kick into the left corner and the Cardinals led 1-0. Cardinal Newman’s lead was up to 3-0 by the 35th minute after Bella Pearson scored following almost identical corner kicks taken by Siena Roy.
“The good news is those are things we can work on as a team,” Rafanelli said. “We can learn how to defend a corner kick better. I don’t think we were outplayed on the field enough for them to get those goals so as a coach I feel optimistic like hey, we can train that, we can practice how we defend corner kicks and not leave our far post so vulnerable. There was a breakdown because both goals were identical serves to the far post and we didn’t clear them.”
Cardinal Newman capped its run through the D-II playoffs with its fourth victory by a combined score of 9-1, despite its curious billing as the No. 15 seed.
“I think probably all the teams they played before this would say the same,” said Rafanelli of the No. 15 seed. “They’ve had a great run.”
The Cardinals started their season 2-8, including losses to Tam and Marin Catholic, before righting the ship and finally climbing above .500 with this victory.
“This winter season is just so spread out and chopped up,” Gilson said. “Some kids were out for a while then we finally pulled it together in this last part but I mean everyone we played we thought we could play with. We just weren’t getting over the top.”