By Brooke Smith
Online Editor
Mira Costa girls soccer’s historic season came to an end with a loss in the regional semifinals in penalty kicks against the JSerra High Lions on March 5.
At the beginning of the game, the Mustangs took the lead, with senior midfielder Grace Watkins scoring the first goal of the game. Their opponents soon took over, scoring two goals. In the last two minutes of the game, Costa found the back of the net, making it a tie game. The game went into overtime and then into penalty kicks. JSerra finished the game off, defeating the Mustangs, 3-1, in penalty kicks.
“I think we played really well together,” Watkins said. “We were moving as a unit and had a lot of opportunities at the beginning of the game. JSerra has a lot of depth on their team, and it was a lot to handle, but we held them off as best we could.”
The first half of the game started off strong for the Mustangs, with Watkins scoring a goal early on. At this point, the Mustangs were in control of the game, gaining most of the possession. Costa dominated for the majority of the first half, with moments of quality from the Lions. JSerra got one opportunity to get a point on the board, but senior goalie Ashely Naylor made a save that kept the Mustangs in the game.
“Our team played with so much intensity during the first half,” Naylor said. “We dominated for the majority of the time and played to our strengths.”
In the second half of the game, JSerra came out stronger, and the Mustangs struggled to hold them off. The Lions managed to get two goals past Naylor, leaving them with a 2-1 lead with only 10 minutes left in the half.
“It was pretty discouraging when we went down with 10 minutes left,” Watkins said. “But we didn’t give up and fought until the very last minute.”
With two minutes left in the game, there was a free kick close to the goal, and sophomore forward Ellie Weisenberg was able to bring the game to a tie, tapping the ball in the back of the net. With Weisenberg’s goal, the Mustangs and Lions headed into overtime.
“I think we played very strong together and worked hard to stay in the game,” Weisenberg said. “It was a great season for us no matter how it ended.”
Since the game was brought to a tie during the second half, the game went into overtime to determine the winner. After 15 minutes, neither team managed to get a goal in, so the game would be determined by penalty kicks.
“We entered overtime determined to win,” senior defender Emilee Ray said. “We had fought so hard the whole game, and we knew that we had to come out hard if we wanted to win. We worked together and prevented JSerra from scoring, but unfortunately we didn’t put our chances on goal away.”
The Mustangs missed all but one penalty kick from junior forward Rachel Fox, and JSerra scored its first three shots, winning the shootout and ultimately the game.
“We were definitely nervous going into penalty kicks, but many players stepped up and we went into it confidently,” Fox said. “We had won earlier in the playoffs in penalty kicks, so we felt ready for them.”
This was the Mustangs’ final game of the season. The girls ended with an overall record of 24-3, making history as the first Costa girls soccer team to win CIF Southern Sectionals. Despite the loss, the seniors are beyond proud of what the team accomplished this past season, according to Ray.
“Overall, this season has been awesome,” Watkins said. “The team is super close, and we all loved playing together. We are sad that it’s over but proud of what we accomplished this year.”
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