PLACENTIA It only took a matter of seconds for El Dorado’s girls soccer team to experience the entire gamut of emotions Tuesday.
With the score knotted and the time running out in the second sudden-death overtime session, Golden Hawks substitute goalie Makenna Calderon made a diving stop on a penalty kick from Skylar Robledo of South Hills of West Covina.
When the rebound trickled away from Calderon, Robledo darted to the ball and tapped it into the goal, dealing El Dorado a crushing 3-2 loss in the CIF-SS Division 3 semifinals Tuesday at El Dorado High.
Top-seeded South Hills (22-1-5) will play Yorba Linda in the championship match. The CIF-SS will announce the date, time and location of the final on Wednesday.
El Dorado (15-9-5), which was making its first semifinals appearance in 15 years, will continue its season next week in the Southern California Regional tournament.
“I just let them know how proud of them I was,” Golden Hawks coach Kyle Thomas said, moments after addressing his emotionally distraught squad. “I’ve seen how far this team has come, not just this year, but over the last two years. These kids care about each other and that’s why it hurts so much right now.”
El Dorado trailed, 2-1 at the half, but the North Hills League champs dominated the match’s final 58 minutes. The Golden Hawks almost exclusively controlled possession on South Hills’ side of the field for the entirety of the second half and much of both overtime periods.
Senior midfielder Daria Petredes notched the equalizer in the 72nd minute, catching South Hills’ keeper of her line and firing a shot from 25 yards out to tie the score, 2-2.
After a scoreless first overtime, the match appeared headed to penalty kicks when Robledo zigzagged through defenders into the Golden Hawks box where she was taken down and given a penalty kick in the 98th minute.
Calderon subbed in for teammate Athena Czegledy in net, and she made a spectacular save before Robledo capitalized on the deflection.
