By Brandon Petersen
On Oct. 22, after a loss at Embry-Riddle, Westcliff women's soccer head coach Jack Gidney said. "We strongly believe we will see them again in California."
Gidney and his coaching staff were right.
Saturday night in Riverside, the Warriors and Eagles will do battle for the California Pacific Conference championship.
The Westcliff women's soccer team earned its way into the final with a stunning comeback win over Saint Katherine Thursday at La Sierra.
It was an epic match, gruelingly physical for the players, emotionally draining, intellectually challenging — the Firebirds were not messing around, and the Warriors' coaching staff did a lot of adjusting on the fly, requiring an incredibly high level of play from the Warriors.
"I'm feeling 100 years old," Gidney joked afterward. "It's tough to verbalize, because we had to go to the well. And that — what you saw today — was why that preseason against those nationally ranked teams was so important. Because you've been there before."
Coming into the match, one of Westcliff's keys was to limit the damage Ceirra Little could do.
An impressive athlete, Little is a star for the Firebirds, and for much of the match, Destiny Rodriguez shadowed her and forced the ball away from her lethal right foot.
But after a defensive switch in the 71st minute, Little found an opening about 35 yards out and drilled a line-drive, top-shelf winner that soared just over keeper Ana Martinez Moreno's fingertips.
Saint Katherine exploded off its bench, and the Warriors deflated, unable to believe that just a split-second gaffe in coverage could lead to the score.
The match wore on until the 83rd minute, when Ashley Sanchez lined up for a corner.
After faking a sprint-out to Angelina Espinal, Sanchez lofted a ball to the center of the box, where Alessandra Ramirez out-leaped a group of Firebirds to head the game-tying score 15 yards into the right side of the net.
Ramirez led her sprinting cohorts to the sidelines where the on-field Warriors celebrated with the off-field Warriors in an overjoyed scrum befitting the shocking equalizer.
Overtime would require two 10-minute periods, without a golden goal.
In the 96th minute, Thea Kanestrom took the game over single-handedly.
First she worked around a defender along the sideline, lofting a ball to herself before exploding to the wing.
From there she slipped into the box and split two defenders before firing off a roller that screamed past a diving Victoria Cavazos, toward the far post and in.
Westcliff ignited and swarmed Kanestrom, who smiled to the heavens above, surrounded by her jubilant teammates.
"They kept it, they did what they needed to do," Gidney said. "They adapted their shape, they adapted their decisions. We asked them to do things that made them uncomfortable, that we hadn't rehearsed, and I'd like to say it was coaching changes — it's not.
"It's entirely them. The character of the group. It has nothing to do with me, or Matt, or Paige, or Fran, Ty, none of us. It's just that group — they're stubborn. They're stubborn to a fault.
"They don't know when they've lost."
Westcliff won the shot battle, 16-13, and both teams took four corners.
Martinez Moreno finished with seven saves, as did Cavazos.
Marthe Engelstad had four shots, all during a first-half in which she was the focal point of Westcliff's attack.
The Warriors' coaching staff adjusted to a wing-oriented attack in the second half, while the Firebirds' back row teed off on Engelstad in an all-out effort to keep her in check.
Beaten up from head to toe, Engelstad needed to be helped off the field in overtime.
Physically exhausted and covered in blood, she personified the effort the Warriors in total gave for the win Thursday.
"Marthe won (All Cal Pac) Freshman of the Year," Gidney said. "And I thought it was the most deserved award, probably ever in the Cal Pac.
"When she first moved here, she really struggled with adaptation. So for her to be who she is now, at her age — 18, 19 — is unbelievable.
"And we're still very critical of her. We still think she can be technically better. Better on the turn. Better on the carry. But what she brings — you can't teach it.
"You can't teach it."
Because Embry-Riddle beat UC Merced Thursday, the Warriors earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.
The Cal Pac championship match will kickoff at 6 p.m. Saturday at La Sierra.
