SAN DIEGO – As she was being removed from the game, Taylor Klawunder ran toward the Santa Margarita sideline. Before she reached the bench, Klawunder dropped to her knees and kissed the turf at Cathedral Catholic High.
Her team was out of answers, and her high school career was out of time.
Cathedral Catholic of San Diego put on a clinic in a 4-1 victory against the Eagles in the CIF Southern California Division 2 regional semifinals on Thursday.
“I think we met a superior opponent, who could do everything right,” Santa Margarita coach Chuck Morales said. “They almost played a perfect game today.”
Anytime the Eagles tried to mount an offensive attack in the first half, the Dons defense would swallow them whole.
Santa Margarita (16-4-4) was playing well on defense too, but it was only a matter of time before Cathedral Catholic (25-2-3) scored a goal.
The Dons scored – twice – in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Kelsey Irwin zipped a free kick past Christina Kosmala in the 32nd minute.
Kosmala had some bad luck five minutes later when Shelby Cormier’s shot bounced off her hands and into the net.
Santa Margarita’s goal came on a penalty kick by Klawunder, but Cathedral Catholic responded with a goal a few minutes later.
Santa Margarita advanced to the regionals after winning the CIF-SS Division 1 title Saturday.
“The regionals are anti-climatic,” Morales “We point everything toward CIF. That was our whole mantra was to get to the finals, and we won. … This is like the icing on the cake, and it didn’t happen. … But our season wasn’t a failure or anything like that.”
