Santa Margarita girls’ soccer beats defending champs Corona Santiago for Open Division title
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Craig Bull is building quite the program at Santa Margarita.
On Friday night in Orange he and the Eagles soared into their third Southern Section girls’ soccer final in his three years at the helm — and left with their second championship after a 4-2 victory over Corona Santiago.
“This team is the strongest overall I’ve had,” said Bull, whose “day job” is coaching multiple age groups for Slammers FC, a club team based in Newport Beach.
It is easy to see why Santa Margarita has eight college commits on its roster, including Tennessee-bound junior Cora Fry, who scored twice in the second half. The first came on a low strike after a solo run down the left side that made it 3-1 at the 11:36 mark.
Gavin Allegaert and Finn Wilkins score goals and goalkeeper Liam Johnson makes five saves to lift JSerra to 2-0 win over Loyola for the Open Division soccer title.
Then, with 6:45 left she put the game away with a well-placed strike to the far post that tucked underneath the crossbar and beyond the reach of goalkeeper Abigail Turley.
Santiago shut out Santa Margarita 2-0 in last season’s inaugural Open Division final, and the Eagles were itching for a chance at redemption.
“We were super-hyped in the locker room,” Fry said. “We couldn’t wait to get on the field. It wasn’t even like revenge… we just knew we were the better team.”
In addition to two CIF titles in the last three years, Santa Margarita has captured three straight Trinity League crowns. Two years ago, the Eagles beat Los Alamitos on penalty kicks to win the Division 1 championship.
On Friday, at Fred Kelly Stadium on the campus of El Modena High, junior Jastel David tallied the first goal after a nifty move and shot from 10 yards out with 22:10 left in the first half.
“The first goal was the most important because it set the tone for the rest of the game,” she said. “I’m glad I was able to get it.”
A few minutes later sophomore Felicity Nguyen scored from nearly the same spot: “Cora got the ball and gave me a great pass and it was two touches and in.”
The defending champions got one back at the 26:20 mark when Santa Margarita failed to clear a loose ball in front of its goal and Gabi Germain scored.
The third-seeded Eagles (18-1-2) took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
“We’re a hard-working team, we’re resilient and we push until the final whistle,” Nguyen said.
Trailing by two, Santiago pushed its defenders into the attack, and Ashlyn Jones scored off a corner kick with 12:27 remaining to pull the Sharks within 3-2. But sophomore goalkeeper Kayla Burmood kept the Big VIII League winners off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
Seeded fifth, Santiago (21-3-2) swept both legs of the semifinal round against No. 1 Harvard-Westlake, by 1-0 and 4-0 scores, to return to the final.
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