A chilly afternoon, fresh from a short drizzle of rain, marked the start of our varsity girls soccer team round 3 CIF matchup against the Marina Vikings of Huntington Beach on Tuesday, the 14th. The start of the first half was a calm back and forth, highlighted by Ayala’s consistent possession throughout the first 35 minutes and an eventual scoreless first half.

Marina displayed a new plan of attack in the second half, significantly enhancing their aggression on every Ayala defender and dominating possession through the beginning of the second half. Sporadic attempts at the goal came to no avail, with two key plays having occurred. In just the third minute of the second half, Marina shot past the keeper for what looked like a goal, only to be ruled offside seconds later by a sideline ref. The cheers swapped sides, and the game continued. 

As the second half began to set in, Ayala regained command of the ball and made several drives towards the goal. A questionable roughing call by the ref shut down one of Ayala’s best scoring attempts of the night, and suddenly became crucial to the outcome of the game.

Down to the 38th minute of the half, Ayala came close to scoring again, only to once again be shot down by good defense. The second half ended a scoreless tie; a ten-minute overtime would possibly decide who advanced.

Despite earnest attempts by both sides throughout the first ten-minute overtime, nothing came off what was now a 90-minute affair. With elite defense stomping out any chance of scoring for either side, there would only be one more overtime period to decide the game before penalties.

The first five minutes of the second overtime looked just as the first 90 minutes had with close attempts prompting anxious cheers, only to die down anticlimactically. However, a yellow card for roughing on Marina’s number 14 put Ayala in the perfect spot for a successful drive past the half-way line. 

Once again, both sides had laid goose eggs in the score column.

With both team’s finest shooters waiting for their turn, penalties were about to determine the second consecutive decision for Ayala. The results were as follows, with Ayala kicking first:

The Bulldog Times congratulates our Varsity Girls Soccer team on a fantastic season, reaching the third round of CIF a year removed from missing the playoffs and two years removed from a heartbreaking first round exit. Their consistent improvement over the course of the past few years is inspiring to all the rest of our fantastic Ayala sports teams, and we look forward to our girls going out there and dominating once again next year. 

We would also like to congratulate the Marina Vikings on their performance so far in CIF, as well as good luck in your upcoming game against Bishop Amat. Bishop Amat has bested the likes of a 17-1-1 Quartz Hill team and a familiar Chino Hills Huskies team in the second round. Marina, after defeating our own Ayala girls team as well as The Webb Schools and Crescenta Valley, will try to continue what they’ve had going into the semifinals of CIF. Don’t make our loss for nothing, go win it all.