Two SLO County girls soccer title games end in OT shootouts: ‘Intense’
Thrilling overtime penalty shootouts decided two San Luis Obispo County girls soccer games Friday with high school league titles on the line.
Arroyo Grande won the Mountain League championship by beating San Luis Obispo 2-1 in penalties after a 1-1 tie in regulation — the biggest program victory “in a decade,” said Eagles Coach Matt Carinio.
SLO has been a dominant force in recent years, winning the league title the past three seasons straight.
Up north along Highway 101, Templeton edged out Nipomo after a scoreless regulation contest with a 5-4 penalty kick advantage. Both teams finished 10-2 in league and beat each other once for a share of the Ocean League crown.
“The girls played fantastic,” said Templeton Coach Steve Wells. “Nipomo is a tough team to play, tough team to beat.”
Arroyo Grande earns long-awaited championship
AG (17-6-2, 8-2, Mountain League) and SLO (10-6-4, 7-3) both had lost just twice in Mountain League action coming into the game.
In a defensive battle, both teams jockeyed fiercely for ball control, with Eagles senior Jiana Martin scoring a first half goal and SLO’s Ashley Brewer knocking in a second half shot through the net.
Arroyo Grande’s Olyvia Cano kicked in the go-ahead penalty shot, a low strike to the right, that was the difference after the Eagles and Tigers both failed to convert on four consecutive tries.
A fifth SLO miss on the Tigers’ final attempt launched the home team’s celebration as Eagles goalie Sam Patchin was chased by her team around the field in jubilation.
“It felt great,” Cano said. “It was wonderful. I felt really nervous. I missed (a penalty kick) a long time ago. I practice every day and it finally paid off.”
Patchin, a junior, fended off five straight Tigers’ kicks that either missed the net or she blocked.
“I was reading the players hips about what side they wanted to go to,” Patchin said. “My heart dropped at the end. I was playing this game for my grandfather. He died two days after Christmas.”
Martin said she was in shock.
“After three years of losing out to SLO, I’m just really, really happy to be here,” she said. “It’s nice to knock SLO off the top. It was really intense. I definitely felt the energy. But I always believed we could pull out the win.”
Carinio said that the players had a lot of pressure on them and credited both goalies, Patchin and Cal Poly commit Riley Wilkerson, of SLO, for doing “a great job of stopping shots.”
Carinio said his players practice taking penalty shots every day in preparation.
“SLO has had our number for several years, especially the last three years since I’ve been here,” Carinio said. “We know we’re going to get the best from them. Players on both sides have a lot of friends, which makes the rivalry even more intense. It’s our biggest program win in probably a decade.”
Carinio added: “A lot of times it comes down to heart and who wants to win it the most and it could have gone either way. We’ve trained for three months just for this game. We knew it came down to one play, and in this case, it came down to PKs.”
Wilkerson, congratulating Martin after the game, said that she was happy with way her team played throughout, but they just lost a bit of focus during the penalty kicks.
“We still have playoffs and we’ll give it all,” Wilkerson said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Wilkerson helped SLO to a 45-9-5 combined record during her first three seasons and the 2019 CIF Central Section Division I title, according to a Cal Poly news release.
Templeton and Nipomo share title
Up in North County, another close battle ended in the sudden death win when Templeton sophomore Audree Lerma punched in the game winner against defending Ocean League champion Nipomo (14-4-3, 10-2 Ocean League).
The share of the league title for the Titans marks the second straight year they finished atop the standings. Nipomo players comforted each other after the game, some in tears.
On the season, Nipomo has been led by Iliana Murguia who has 12 goals, Ximena Hinojosea-Perez with six assists, and sophomore Alicia Diaz who has eight goals.
Templeton (11-7, 10-2) had won five straight coming into Friday’s home game to end the regular season with a big win.
Playoff seedings will be announced this weekend.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 10:40 PM.
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