Mitty girls score late goal in regulation, prevail in overtime

By Greg Hancock, Special to the Town Crier

Joe Hu/Town Crier St. Francis High’s Sarah Doyle (left) scored her team’s lone goal in Saturday’s CCS final.

The St. Francis High girls soccer team came within two minutes of upsetting Mitty in last Saturday’s Central Coast Section Division II championship game.

The third-seeded Monarchs scored the game-tying goal in the last minute to force overtime and went on to beat the eighth-seeded Lancers 2-1 at Valley Christian High in San Jose.

St. Francis (20-5-3) appeared to be on its way to defeating West Catholic Athletic League rival Mitty (21-1-5) for the first time in four tries this season. Sarah Doyle put the Lancers ahead in the 48th minute, with Elle Muelman assisting on the goal.

The goal stood up until the 79th minute when Mitty’s Veronika Sikora lofted a shot that just eluded the outstretched hands of St. Francis goalkeeper Lindsay Dickerson.

The first 10-minute overtime came and went without any scoring. In the second 10-minute session, Mitty put the game away with a goal by Liz Moul in the 98th minute.

“It’s hard to lose this game because we didn’t beat them in league,” Doyle said. “But they were always close games.”

It was a blustery day at Valley Christian, which put St. Francis on the defensive early on. The wind blew against the Lancers in the opening 40 minutes, aiding the Monarchs, who remained on the attack throughout the half. Dickerson was flawless, though, stopping 10 first-half shots. Hampered by the wind, St. Francis mustered two shots on goal in the first half.

“Mitty isn’t used to being scoreless at halftime,” Doyle said. “We’re a second-half team, so if we kept the score 0-0, we believed we could do it.”

With the wind at their backs starting the second half, the Lancers quickly took advantage. Just eight minutes into the half, a long, wind-aided kick sailed past midfield, with Doyle and a Mitty defender in pursuit. When Mitty goalkeeper Gina Eagleson rushed out to meet Doyle, the ball trickled by her and Doyle easily kicked it into the open net.

When the game went into overtime, fatigue appeared to play a role for St. Francis. Several Lancers were seen grabbing their legs with apparent cramps.

“During the second half, my calves started to cramp up,” Doyle said. “When that happens, it’s not good.”

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Doyle was able to see the bright side of things.

“I thought it was going to be a rebuilding year,” she said. “Going into the season I thought we might get fourth or fifth place. To get first place in league and make the championship game, it’s amazing and blew away my expectations.”