Falcons take title in sudden death

STOCKTON —— Sudden death might not sound like a good thing, unless you were a Lady Falcon soccer player on Saturday afternoon.

That’s when Forest Lake Christian (18-7-1) downed LeGrand (14-3-4) in a sudden-death shootout to win the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship by a 5-4 score at Lincoln High School in Stockton.

FLC sophomore Lia Hegarty and senior Morghan Pomeroy proved to be the lethal combination for the Falcons, who earned their second section championship in three years.

Hegarty was called to make the sudden-death kick against LeGrand’s senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Lopez, which was a call Hegarty was not expecting.

“I was going to pee my pants,” Hegarty said of when she heard her name called by coach Trenton Mol.

Hegarty went high to the left corner and made the sudden death’s game-winning goal.

“I called her (Hegarty) because she can do what she did,” said Mol.

With the lead, it was up to Pomeroy, Forest Lake’s four-year starting goalkeeper who also won a section title in a shootout during her sophomore season.

LeGrand called on senior Maggie Perez to take on the veteran keeper. Pomeroy blocked the kick to seal the 5-4 deal for the Lady Falcons.

“I was confident,” said Mol. “We have been working on those.”

The team ran to embrace Pomeroy once the game was over.

“It was the most amazing four years of my life,” Pomeroy said. “I cherish the relationships.”

Not everyone ran to the celebration, however. The team’s senior captain Katelyn Seitz was carried by her coaches to join the party.

“I don’t feel the pain anymore,” said Seitz, who suffered a broken ankle in the first-round playoff win over Lindhurst.

This was the first time LeGrand had appeared in the section final, while it was Forest Lake’s fifth consecutive trip.

“We played well. Forest Lake is a great team,” LeGrand coach Frank Ferreira said. “The game went as it should have, down to the last shot.”

At the end of the second overtime, Mol and Ferreira turned in their rosters of the five players to make the free kicks. Each team had the opportunity to go one on one with the other team’s goalkeeper in a best of five shots shootout.

“I have a lot of trust,” Seitz said. “I’m confident in my teammates.”

Both teams sat on the 50-yard line and waited to see what would happen.

First on Mol’s list was senior captain Kacie McGeary, who stepped up and fired at the upper left corner to beat the Bulldogs’ senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Lopez for the Falcons’ first lead of the game at 2-1.

Now it was Pomeroy’s turn.

LeGrand sent Ivana Barajas to try and tie it up. The shot went off her left foot to the low left, where Pomeroy dove to the turf and made the stop to hold the 2-1 lead. Emily English, who is known as “the wall” by her teammates, stepped up to the ball and kicked a soft shot to the right that found the back of the net for a 3-1 lead.

Griselda Garcia kicked the ball at Pomeroy, who tipped the ball as she dove to the right, but the shot was good —— 3-2 Falcons.

FLC’s Weisman kicked the ball low and right for a 4-2 lead. Nancy Medina scored on a low right kick to move to within one at 4-3.

Dana Ormiston’s shot sailed over the crossbar, leaving things at 4-3.

LeGrand’s Bertha Granados was next for the Bulldogs, kicking the ball to the right side past Pomeroy.

With the game tie at four all, each team sent its final player to the field. FLC sophomore Rachel Jordan took the final shot and it was blocked.

The final kick was between two of the game’ss top players. Veronica Lupian went one on one with Pomeroy, power kicking to the right at the veteran keeper that was deflected and the score remained 4-4.

“I keep a calm head,” said Pomeroy. “I look my opponent straight in the eye and try to make them nervous.”

The score was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, on goals by Lupian and FLC senior Christa Weisman, who kicked a hard low ball to the opposite side of the net that LeGrand sophomore Sonia Medina got a foot on but could not stop.

McGeary had a corner kick early in the first half that found Weisman in front of the net and the Falcons took a 1-0 lead, but the goal was called off. The referees ruled the ball was out of bounds and came back into the field of play.

The Central Valley Christian League champion Falcons played through adversity late in the season, as they had to play without Seitz, the team’s leading scorer. When her team took to the field for the semifinal match against Mariposa County, Seitz was on the operating table having five screws put into her right leg to stabilize the two broken bones so a detached ligament would heal properly.

She is number three in the program, but when she was introduced the roar of the crowd said she was number one in the attendees’ hearts.

Forest Lake freshman Makena Wong drew the defensive assignment of marking Lupian, while FLC’s Bethany Derenne marked Nancy Medina, LeGrand’s leading scorers.

“Number 16 is big and fast,” said Wong about her mark as she returned to the field for the second half of the game.

The halftime score was 1-1 and Mol’s half time speech was one of confidence.

“We are going to win 4-1,” Mol said. “We are going to score at least three this half. You know memory lane? We want this team up on the wall.”

At the 10-minute mark in the second half Lommori kicked a hard, curving ball on a corner kick to Weisman, who headed a ball that looked as if it was headed for net. But Lopez made a diving stop.

With just more than 3 minutes to go, play picked up speed and fans became very passionate.

“It’s so hard to watch,” Seitz said, as she sat in a chair reclined with her right leg elevated.

Ormiston kicked the ball 35 yards, but as the ball bounced in front of the LeGrand goalie the referee blew his whistle indicating the end of regulation.

The section title was the first for FLC’s Mol, a first-year head coach who took over for Ken Raskin.

“These seniors have carved this team out,” Mol said. “We have five captains and their leadership showed today.”

“We played without our leading scorer, so we had four seniors and the rest were freshmen and sophomores.”

Article Courtesy of The Union photo/ Sports writer Scott P. Hoppe