LAKE BALBOA — The fifth-seeded Gardena girls soccer team was hoping to make school history Saturday morning in the CIF L.A. City Section Division V championship game against second-seeded Sun Valley Magnet.
The Panthers (12-5-1) found themselves in an unusual position early on as they gave up their first playoff goal in the 31st minute of the game as Sun Valley Magnet’s Saralee Gamero beat freshman goalie Melani Ramos. However, the Panthers scored three consecutive goals for a 3-1 win to claim their first City Section girls soccer title.
After allowing the early goal, Gardena turned up its intensity and it paid off.
Junior defender Andrea Reyes beat Sun Valley Magnet goalkeeper Cynthia Femat by blasting a shot into the right corner of the goal to tie the score at 1-1 seconds before halftime.
The score remained tied until the 55th minute when Gardena senior Michelle Serao lifted a shot over the head of Femat to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes to play.
“That was a really important goal because it lifted our confidence after we had fallen behind. We were starting to think like maybe this wasn’t going to happen for us,” Serao said. “When I scored that go-ahead goal it was huge, because until then we were sort of out of it and very nervous because we were tied.
“I was so happy. It felt really good to finally get an advantage. It feels really amazing to win a championship. We have been working so hard for it and to be the first one to win is awesome.”
Sun Valley Magnet (14-3-1) had some great chances to tie the score, but every time Ramos came up with a big save to preserve the one-goal advantage.
Late in the game after a Pioneers’ scoring chance, Gardena got a breakout and junior Hazel Ulloa took advantage and beat Femat with a shot that found the back of the net in the 78th minute to clinch the title.
“After they scored that first goal, I still believed that we could do this. Scoring that goal right before halftime definitely brought us up,” Ramos said. “We went ahead, I was able to relax a little bit. Then when Hazell scored that goal. I was like ‘Yes, we are going to win.’ It’s really cool to be the first ones (at Gardena) to win a championship in soccer.”
Gardena qualified for the Southern California Regionals that start next week.
