Girls soccer: San Rafael denies San Marin in dramatic finale
There was plenty of optimism surrounding the San Rafael High girls soccer team heading into this season that this group of Bulldogs could be the first to qualify for the MCAL playoffs since the sport moved to winter for the 2015-16 season.
San Rafael had already clinched a spot in the tournament before Thursday night’s season finale but the Bulldogs had a chance to host a playoff game by getting a win or a draw against San Marin.
The Mustangs on the other hand learned maybe an hour before kickoff that they needed a win to end their own lengthy MCAL playoff drought after Archie Williams upset Tam to claim a playoff spot.
Jaela Brown and Joselin Romero scored goals to put the Bulldogs in front twice but San Marin’s Tatum D’Angelica brought the Mustangs back both times. D’Angelica scored the tying goal in the 80th minute but the Mustangs ran out of time and settled for a 2-2 draw.
“I think there was a lot of excitement around the freshman class that was coming in and a lot of the girls that had been in the program for a long time,” San Rafael coach Nichole Caiocca said. “Coming off the season we had last year, we definitely knew it could be done but then there’s that looming we’ve never done it before.”
Caiocca took over the program when soccer moved to winter in 2015. None of the current players were alive the last time San Rafael made it to the league playoffs.
“The first day of tryouts I knew we were going to be better and I really wanted to prove everyone wrong,” Brown said. “I’m glad we made it into MCAL playoffs for the first time in a while but I don’t know if I thought [us hosting a playoff game] was going to happen but I definitely hoped it would. I definitely believed from the first game that we could make it into the playoffs.”
San Rafael (11-1-9, 2-1-5 MCAL) secured the No. 4 seed and hosts No. 5 Archie Williams at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. No. 3 Marin Catholic hosts No. 6 Tam in the other semifinal on Tuesday night. San Marin (9-5-5, 2-3-3) fell one point short of making the MCAL tournament but is eligible for the North Coast Section playoffs.
Brown got the Bulldogs off to an ideal start when she got behind the defense on the right side of the field and blasted a shot across goal and into the left corner for a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.
San Marin had a golden opportunity to tie the game on a breakaway in the 22nd minute. D’Angelica and Gianna Grasso both went for the ball in a dangerous position but San Rafael’s Darby Fones recovered in time to stop the breakaway.
San Marin pushed hard for a goal early in the second half, coming closest when D’Angelica hit the post in the 48th minute.
The Mustangs finally broke through in the 60th minute when they played a ball into the 18-yard box. Fones tried to shield D’Angelica off the ball and allow goalie Maddy Janzen – playing with a facemask to protect the nose she broke against Marin Catholic on Jan. 22 – to come and collect the ball. D’Angelica managed to come away with the ball anyway and lashed it into the net to tie the game at 1-1.
San Rafael answered immediately off the ensuing kickoff. Fones played a long ball to Brown who sent a cross in right across the face of goal. The ball found its way to Romero on the far post for a 2-1 lead in the 61st minute.
San Marin, needing two goals in the final 10 minutes to keep its MCAL playoff hopes alive, kept pushing behind D’Angelica – who at that point was tied for the league lead on six goals.
When it looked like all hope was lost, D’Angelica scored her seventh goal of the season, beating multiple defenders with a run into the box before giving the Mustangs a lifeline at 2-2 in the 80th minute.
“She’s an incredible player,” Romero said of D’Angelica. “She deserves everything. Those two goals were amazing.”
The teams played about five minutes of stoppage time. D’Angelica got into a dangerous position one last time but her shot went wide left and San Rafael was able to see the game out from there.
“I think (D’Angelica) essentially was like ‘I’m gonna go win this game for her team,’ right?” Caiocca said. “She had the ability and willpower to almost make that happen – to tie it up.”
The tie was not enough for San Marin, but it suited San Rafael just fine. The Bulldogs have played 21 games this season – tying nine of them and losing only once. San Rafael had managed just four goals in league coming into this game — their postseason push bolstered by a defense that allowed a goal per game in league and just under a goal per game in all competitions (20 in 21)
The back line of Myrna Escamilla, Stephanie De Leon, Fones, and Brooklyn Cox all played well in front of Janzen on Thursday.
“Our defensive center mid, Yasmin Lopez, she does so much dirty work for us, she covers so much ground,” Caiocca said. “That’s a huge piece, too.”