The quest is over.
The Fresno City College women’s soccer team lost in the semi-finals of the state championships to San Bernardino Valley 2-0 on Dec. 4.
The semi-final game was held at College of the Canyons, the school where Fresno City College women’s soccer coach Oliver Germond started his JC coaching career as an assistant.
The Rams applied pressure early on against the Wolverines who came into the playoffs seeded No. 1 from the South.
San Bernardino had an opportunity early on to take the lead, but Rams goalie Tegan Coltra made another big save to deny the Wolverines the early lead.
FCC continued to keep the pressure up, but San Bernardino found the goal a few minutes later when Kayla Kellstrom took a pass from Araceli Sanchez and drilled a shot to the left of Coltra in the 13th minute for a 1-0 lead for the Wolverines.
The Rams didn’t let a one goal deficit faze them as they continued to apply the pressure to the Wolverines. Whenever it appeared that FCC would gain the advantage on the field and try to score the equalizer, the Wolverines defense would come in and clear the ball out of danger.
San Bernardino went into half leading 1-0 but knew they would have to play another tough half if they wanted to keep the Rams at bay and secure their trip to the state championships.
FCC came out in the second half determined to get the game-tying goal. The Rams continually challenged the Wolverines defense, but to no avail.
FCC’s best chance to tie the game came in the 73rd minute. The Rams had broken down the defense of San Bernardino and mayhem ensued in front of the Wolverines goal with players from both teams battling it out for the ball. FCC had a couple of shots to put the ball in, but the combination of San Bernardino’s defenders and goalie Bianca Contreras proved to be too much at the time.
The effort ignited the FCC faithful in the stands and the nervous looks on the San Bernardino fans could be easily identified.
The momentum had seemed to shifted to the Rams during that exchange, but on the ensuing play the Wolverines took the momentum right back.
Sanchez was found on a break-away as she slid behind the FCC defense and began sprinting toward the FCC goal.
Sanchez rifled a kick from the 25 yards out that screamed past Coltra to give San Bernardino a 2-0 lead in the 75th minute.
FCC assistant coach Drew Mattos described the play as he saw it unfold from the bench.
“We had that great opportunity in the second half [to tie the game up],” Mattos said. “Next play, their player sneaks by and gets their second goal. Tegan [Coltra] came up and made her shoot early like you’re taught. It just wasn’t our day.”
The Rams were in deep trouble at this point and tried to mount some sort of comeback, but the Wolverines defense was playing back at this point and clearing any offensive threat the Rams tried to establish.
When the final whistle blew, the sound of jubilation came from the bench of San Bernardino and their fans as the look of despair and shock came from the Rams and their fans.
Wolverines head coach Kristen Hague described the plan to counter FCC’s dangerous offense heading into the game.
“Our goal was to come in and have Fresno play our style,” Hague said. “Fresno came out strong the first ten to fifteen minutes and we saw why they were such a good team.”
Being denied a chance to play in the state championship game for the second time in four years, Fresno City College head coach Oliver Germond praised his team’s efforts in the game.
“I told the girls we did everything we could to win the game,” Germond said. “Sometimes soccer is so weird. That last play we almost scored and then they came back and scored the goal.”
This was the Rams first trip back to the semi-finals since 2007 when Fresno City lost 3-0 to Cerritos.
With the season over, the Rams now sit and wait for the final soccer rankings to be released on Dec. 14.
All-West Region
Three FCC Rams were named to the 2010 National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Performance Subaru Division III All-West Region first team.
Rams defender Miko Elliott along with midfielder Carley Griffin and forward Jesslyn Fagundes received first team honors for FCC.
Fagundes set the new mark for goals scored in a career at FCC this season as she finished with 39 in her two seasons with the Rams. No players from state champion San Bernardino Valley received first team honors.
