Jessica Domenichelli scored 27 goals this season and finished with 52 in her SBCC career. (Presidio Sports Photo)
After 120 scoreless minutes, San Bernardino Valley won a dramatic penalty-kick shootout to stun No. 2 seed SBCC on Saturday in the opening round of the Southern Cal Regional women’s soccer playoffs at Westmont College.
With the sun rapidly sinking into the mountains, the defending state champion Wolverines (14-5-3) won the PK battle 5-4, thanks to a save by Jennifer Keats on a second-round attempt by Katie Voss.
“I’ve been making that PK for months, that was the first time I missed it,” said Voss, one of 13 sophomores who played their final game for the Vaqueros. “I thought we had more talent that them.
“We had a lot of opportunities, we were just unlucky. There were two times when the defender stuck her foot on the line and it bounced back out.”
Three minutes into overtime, Voss headed a pass off the right post.
Jessica Domenichelli, the MVP of the WSC North, scored the first penalty kick for the Vaqueros (16-3-0), who posted the second-highest win total in team history. Jo Lawlor, Jenna Rubin and Debbie Arreola also found the net.
With the PKs tied 4-4, Ivana Ramirez scored in the lower left to give San Bernardino the victory.
Domenichelli had a few chances to score on headers but her seven-game goal-streak was halted. She set records this year for single-season goals (27) and goals in a career (52).
“It was a great game, I thought we outplayed them for 90 minutes,” said SBCC coach John Sisterson. “We got the ball down on the floor. Their keeper pulled off two great saves to keep them in the game.
“It’s very, very disappointing to go 90 minutes, then another 30 minutes, then lose on PKs. But that’s the nature of the game.”
The Wolverines outshot the Vaqueros 22-18 and had 10 shots on goal, compared to seven for the home team. Goalie Cheyenne Rodriguez made 10 saves for Santa Barbara.
“I’m proud of the girls, they really played well and competed well. I didn’t think they deserved to lose the game. This was a great season. We won the Western State Conference for the first time and they should really be proud about the way they played today.”
