POMONA, Calif.--A magical season for the 2024 Point Loma Sea Lions women's soccer team finally saw the final chapter close during a 2-1 overtime loss to Cal Poly Pomona at Saturday afternoon at Kellogg Stadium.

Angelina Rivas ended the well played contest at 95:17, just a little over five minutes into overtime. Her goal sends the Broncos to the Elite Eight, where they will host an opponent to be determined next week. 

Point Loma, the Pacific West Conference regular season and conference tournament champions, ended the season in the West Region finals at 17-3-1. Cal Poly is now 19-1-2. 

The Broncos, ranked No. 4 in the country, got on the board first in the 15th minute. A long throw in came in on a high hop to Marisa Salazar, who took the ball with a Sea Lion defender on her hip and flipped the ball into the upper left corner of the net. Although the Sea Lions had possession for much of the first half, the score remained 1-0 at the break. CPP had five shots to PLNU's three, with all three of the home teams shots on goal.

But the lead was shortlived. Just a little over two minutes after the break, Alana Diaz took a long pass from Zoe Crockett and sprinted down the left sideline with a defender running with her. The CPP keeper came out, Diaz flipped a pass to herself over her, and then flicked the ball into an empty goal to make it 1-1. 

That's how the scoreboard read after 90 minutes, with CPP still leading in shots (10-5), shots on goal (3-1) but with Point Loma showing a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.

In overtime, the Broncos scored on a stunner. About 30 yards away from play, in front of the PLNU bench, Cal Poly's Vanessa Cruz kicked the ball high and back over her head just to keep the ball in play. It was directional towards the goal and caught the Point Loma defense by surprise. Rivas gathered the ball and fired a shot into the upper left hand corner of the goal, sending the Broncos celebrating and on to the next round. 

That was the only shot of overtime and brought a stunning end to a very closely contested match. 

It was the seventh straight win for Cal Poly Pomona, who also defeated the Sea Lions on this very field way back on Sept. 12, 1-0. 

Point Loma, the 2023 NCAA national champions, was making their sixth straight NCAA postseason appearance. It was their third appearance in the West Region final.