UPDATE 2/28/14- Our girls soccer team has had a great season. They lost a close match today in the third round of CIF competition. Final score 2-3.
Story By Fred Robledo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Photos By Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News
CLICK HERE to watch video from sgvtribune.com
The Diamond Bar girls soccer team is living on the edge and loving the results.
Bishop Amat won two championships in the last three years in similar fashion, rallying time after time, and was at it again against host Diamond Bar in Wednesday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 3 second-round game.
But the Brahmas didn’t buckle, showing incredible reserve after the Lancers’ late rally, surviving a wild final 10 minutes to pull out a 3-2 victory over the fourth seed after nearly blowing a 2-0 lead it held most of the match.
The fireworks started when Bishop Amat freshman Sophia Serafin scored in the 71st minute and Hanna Armandariz scored a minute later to tie the score, 2-2.
Brahmas junior Helena Kisor looked around and didn’t like what she saw.
“Some people started putting their heads down,” Kisor said. “But then we talked about putting your heads back up.”
Before Amat was finished celebrating its comeback, Sabrina Corpus sent a corner kick over the middle for Kisor, who headed it home in the 74th minute, and the Brahmas held on to advance to the quarterfinals Friday on the road against Cypress, the Empire League champion.
“I looked at Sabrina taking the corner and she looked at me,” Kisor said. “I told (teammate) Angie (Puerta) I’m going to get this, and I got it in the back of the net.”
It was a reverse of last year’s quarterfinal, when Amat took a 2-0 lead over Diamond Bar with the Brahmas rallying to tie it 3-3 to send it to overtime, losing 4-3 in sudden death and propelling Amat to the championship.
This time, it was Diamond Bar’s turn.
Diamond Bar’s Ashley Bell staked the Brahmas to a 2-0 lead scoring in the ninth minute and again in the 33rd minute.
“You have to earn confidence against a team like Amat with two championships in the last three years,” Diamond Bar coach Matt Brummett said. “We knew we would have to come out blazing. This year we were able to earn the two-goal lead and credit to (Amat) for coming back to score two quick ones. But the character of this team is unmatched.”
Diamond Bar won its first-round game by scoring in the final seconds against Mayfield and winning 2-1 on Marissa Favela’s sudden-death free kick.
A team of destiny? Maybe.
“In the middle of league we kind of went cold, and we talked about finding our way,” Brummett said. “We talked about getting hot at the right time because that’s what it takes to win a championship. This team is starting to emerge right now.”
After Diamond Bar took a 1-0 lead, Amat had a chance to tie with a penalty kick in the 20th minute, but Serafin sailed her shot wide.
On Bell’s second goal, Amat goalkeeper Evelyn Fierros fumbled the ball away, and Bell pounced on it and finished in front of an open net.
“We made some mistakes, missed a PK, but you have to give them credit,” Bishop Amat coach Ruben Gonzalez said. “We put a lot of effort in coming back and got that second goal to tie it, but they battled us all game and they were able to outlast us. You have to give them credit for that.”