PAL’s best in CCS finals

By Nathan Mollat, Daily Journal Staff

Nathan Mollat / Daily Journal Burlingame Jenny Haggerty, right, and St. Francis’ Claire Fuselier battle for position to head the ball during the Panthers’ 3-1 win over the Lancers in the CCS Division II semifinals. SAN JOSE — The Burlingame girls’ soccer team found itself in an unfamiliar position at halftime of the its Central Coast Section Division II semifinal game against sixth-seeded St. Francis. For one of only a few times this season, the second-seeded Panthers found themselves trailing 1-0 at Valley Christian High in San Jose. There was no panic, however. No big sense of urgency on the part of the Panthers. They simple turned their game up a notch and scored three times in the second half to move into Saturday’s championship game for the second year in a row. “I was very comfortable in the first half, even though they scored that goal,” said Burlingame coach Phillip De Rosa. “When they came off the field (at halftime) I said, ‘Hey ladies, it’s only one goal.’” For many teams, the timing and the way the Lancers scored would have been demoralizing. The Burlingame defense made one mistake, with about two minutes left in the half, and the Lancers capitalized. From just past the midfield stripe, St. Francis’ Stephanie Bell sent a long pass toward the top of the Burlingame penalty box. Burlingame sweeper Cassie Root mis-timed her jump and the ball barely went over her head — right to Maddie Payne, who one-timed a shot to the far right corner for the 1-0 advantage just before halftime. It was a short-lived lead, however. Jenny Haggerty scored the equalizer seven minutes into the second half and Taylor McCann capped the comeback with a pair of spectacular goals. “We knew we needed to pick it up a lot (in the second half),” McCann said. “In the second half, everyone started stepping (up) to 50-50 balls. Once we started doing that, it all clicked.” While Root’s ill-timed jump resulted in the Lancers’ goal, her error was tiny compared to huge mistake the St. Francis defense made that resulted in the game-tying goal. A St. Francis defender attempted a backpass to her goalkeeper, but hit it much too softly. Haggerty sprinted by a defensive line that bottled her up in the first half and beat the goalkeeper to the ball, poking it past her and into the goal to tie the score at 1 — eerily reminiscent of her game-winning goal against Presentation in the quarterfinals Saturday. That goal energized the Panthers, who dominated play and stayed on the attack for the majority of the second half. Eleven minutes later, Burlingame took the lead. St. Francis failed the clear the ball out of danger and Burlingame midfielder Katie Webb intercepted the ball about 20 yards from the Lancers’ goal. She chested the ball down and faked a shot, instead delivering a short pass to McCann, who also faked a one-timer. She moved around the defender to create space for herself and unleashed a blast that she buried in the upper net for the 2-1 advantage. McCann wasn’t done. Late in the game, she rifled a shot off the crossbar before icing the game in stoppage time with another highlight-reel goal. She stole the ball from a St. Francis defender, took a couple of touches and hit a laser just over the outstretched hands of the St. Francis goalkeeper and just under the crossbar. “Unbelievable,” De Rosa said of McCann’s goals. “I don’t think Hope Solo (U.S. National team goalkeeper) could have saved those.” The goals helped soothe a frustrating first half that saw the Panthers have their chances, only to see St. Francis thwart them every time. The game started well with Burlingame putting pressure on the St. Francis goal for the opening 10 minutes, doing a good job of building in the middle and then out to the flanks for crosses back to the top of the penalty box. St. Francis eventually turned the tide and got its offense going. Burlingame goalkeeper Amanda Koester kept the game scoreless in the 18th minute when she made a diving stop of a Bell shot. As the first half wore on, however, Burlingame got out of its normal game plan and tried the direct approach, sending long balls from their defensive end up to Haggerty, who then had to run by the defense before trying to beat the Lancers’ goalkeeper — a low-percentage attack. The Panthers got back to stringing passes and pressuring the defense in the second half to perfection and they’ll get a chance to defend their CCS title Saturday against either No. 1 St. Ignatius or No. 5 Mitty at Valley Christian. “This victory here is for the PAL Bay and all the teams that got us prepared for this,” De Rosa said. “This is for the Woodsides, the Carlmonts, the Aragons … all of them. This is a win for the PAL.”