TEMECULA — Sophomore Dani Williams buried a free kick nine minutes into overtime Saturday night to help the Linfield Christian girls soccer team complete a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over visiting Santa Clara and claim the CIF Southern Section Division 7 championship.
The win was the first CIF-SS girls soccer title in school history.
“This is unreal, I can’t even believe it,” Williams said. “I had no idea that we would come this far, let alone win the whole thing, it’s just an amazing feeling.”
The Lions were awarded the free kick at the top of the box after the Santa Clara keeper misjudged her field position and handled the ball just outside the box.
Linfield head coach Angela Hernandez said she had no doubts about sending the sophomore to the spot.
“I had confidence in her, I knew if she kept her focus she could do it,” Hernandez said.
Santa Clara’s Yamilet Ordaz forced the Lions to have to play from behind late in the first half, making good on an impressive free kick from 35 yards out, but Linfield Christian regrouped at the break and got an equalizer from Faith Hastey 15 minutes into the second half.
“At halftime, when we were down a goal, all the girls just came together and said that we had to make this comeback,” Williams said. “We wanted to come out and show them that we wanted this more.”
The celebration was short lived though as a minute later, Bella Garcia collected a loose ball in the box and blasted it home to put the Saints up 2-1.
“The thing that I was most impressed with from the team this season was their ability to remain composed,” Hernandez said. “They made the commitment to working hard, they don’t complain or hang their heads.”
Trailing by a goal with under 10 minutes to play, the Lions didn’t surrender and continued to create offensive opportunities, which eventually paid off in the 75th minute of play when Alexis Jones slid a shot past the keeper from the end line.
Williams said the team was confident heading into extra time.
“We had the pressure on us tonight” Williams said. “The whole school was here and behind us, and we knew that going into extra time that as long as we stayed collected and patient that it was just a matter of time.”
2020-03-01 07:40:00Z
https://www.pe.com/linfield-christian-girls-soccer-wins-division-7-title-on-overtime-strike-by-dani-williams
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