SAN DIEGO--One week after a Pacific West Conference Championship thriller, the two best teams in the leagued squared off again, this time in a win-or-go-home match.
Defending national champion Point Loma had the upper hand today, rallying for a 2-1 victory over Hawai`i Hilo on Saturday afternoon at the PLNU Soccer Field. Similar to last week, the Sea Lions came back from a deficit to take the lead and hold on for the victory.
That sends Point Loma to an NCAA Third Round match at Cal Poly Pomona, next Saturday (Nov. 30) at 1 pm. Point Loma, the No. 2 seed in the West Region, takes a 17-2-1 record to Pomona to face the No. 1 seed Broncos, who topped Western Washington today, 1-0. CPP, who defeated Point Loma 1-0 back on September 12 at Kellogg Stadium, is now 18-1-2.
While last week's match went 109 minutes (two overtimes) before the Sea Lions earned the PacWest trophy (3-2), today it took the standard 90 minues, but it wasn't without drama right up to the final minute.
Earlier, Hilo got on the board first. In the 18th minute (17:12), Filippa Graneld gathered a pass from Tiera Arakawa and popped it in the goal to put the visitors up, 1-0. After that score, Point Loma had more possession time until the end of the half, although at the break the teams were even in shots (5-5).
In the second half, the momentum shifted dramatically. Point Loma had two corner kicks early with no positive result, and Arakawa had a one-on-one opportunity moments later at the other end of the field, but her shot was blocked.
Quickly back the other direction, Bethany Arabe slid into the box to snag a cross from Alyssa Ketcham and dropped it past the keeper to tie the match at 1-1 (51:52). Then, 34 seconds later. Arabe took the ball from just the other side of midfield all the way down the left sideline before crossing to Ketcham, who headed the pass into the net.
The scoring tandem of Arabe and and Ketcham would give the Sea Lions a lead that they wouldn't give up.
Both teams had some dangerous chances in the final 15 minutes of the match. Hilo keeper Phoebe Barnes saved a shot with about 13 minutes left that was inches from crossing the goal line, and PLNU goalkeeper Julia Pinnell weathered a pair of bullets that went wide at ten minutes and seven respectively from Diana Garcia and Savina Zamborini.
Hilo's last chance came with 20 seconds left when Jazlynn Ellis' shot was saved by a diving Pinnell.
The Vulcans terrific run into postseason play ends with a 14-3-3 record. In the final tally, the Vulcans outshot the Sea Lions 13-10, with PLNU having the edge in shots on goal (4-3) and corner kicks (6-2).