La Mirada girls soccer on to CIF championship in thriller

SIMI VALLEY >> La Mirada High School’s Lauren Garcia was more surprised than anyone.

It was supposed to be a crossing pass, but that hardly mattered. Somehow the ball found its way into the back of the net in the final minute of the first overtime period, sending the reigning CIF Southe Section Division 4 champions back to the final with a 1-0 girls soccer victory over Royal in Tuesday’s semifinal game.

And the golden goal celebration began in eaest.

“I couldn’t believe what just happened,” Garcia said. “I saw my teammates ruing toward me and it was an amazing feeling.

“It began as a mosh pit, but we kind of tripped and so it tued into a dogpile. It felt great, especially because as defending champs, it’s super hard to come back and do it again.”

La Mirada (18-3-6) advances to face Moorpark, a 2-0 wier over Mayfair, in a rematch of last year’s final.

La Mirada was reveling in the moment. There were hugs, cheers and chants of “In-N-Out, In-N-Out.”

To the victors go the spoils.

“Everyone just dogpiled. There were tears and goosebumps,” La Mirada forward Maddie Beett said. “That was awesome.”

La Mirada forward Amanda Duran said she felt vindicated making a retu to the CIF-SS final.

“I was excited and shocked,” the senior said. “It was the best feeling in the world. As seniors, it feels great to lead the team all over again. We’re really excited.”

Meanwhile the Royal players collapsed to the turf in despair.

Making its first semifinals appearance in 23 years, it was a tough ending to an otherwise spectacular 19-4-5 campaign, considering the goal proved to be somewhat flukey.

“It went in and it was just ... over,” Royal’s Maddy Mackenzie said. “It’s definitely tough to take. But I’m really proud of the team and everything we’ve gone through this season.”

Royal felt confident if the match had gone to penalty kicks, having a 6-0 record in shootouts this season. Plus goalkeeper Marissa Froio was locked in, making several spectacular saves, some from point-blank range.

“I wanted to do everything I can and play my heart out for the entire team,” Froio said. “We all gave it everything we had and worked as hard as they could. They got one lucky shot and we were unlucky.”

Royal did its best without Jaycee Fuller, who tore her ACL in the quarterfinal win over Arcadia.

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Oregon-bound Zoe Hasenauer tried to overcome the flu and created several looks. Royal had one shot hit the left post and one shot hit the crossbar.

“I sort of think they got lucky,” Hasenauer said. “But I thought we had a great season and we left it all on the field, and that’s all we can do.”

MOORPARK 2, MAYFAIR 0 >> In the other Division 4 semifinal, the Monsoons came up short on the road at Moorpark.

GRACE BRETHREN 4, ST. ANTHONY 0 >> The Saints were held scoreless in the Division 7 semifinal to end their season.

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