Bobcats surge past Mustangs into finals

The Saddleback women's soccer team advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) state championship game with a 3-1 win against San Joaquin Delta College on Friday night at American River College in Sacramento.  The Bobcats scored three second-half goals to surge past the Mustangs.

Saddleback had a tough start to the night when San Joaquin Delta scored in the seventh minute for a 1-0 lead.  The Bobcats quickly collected themselves and played even with the Mustangs the rest of the half to head to the locker room down a goal.

Saddleback struck quickly in the second half when Kylie Beu scored her 12^th goal of the season in the 50^th minute off a feed from Chloe Green.  It gave energy to a Bobcat squad that had found themselves matched in a physical battle with a big and talented team.

The two teams played even for the next 28 minutes in a game that looked destined to be headed to overtime.  Saddleback then struck when Chloe Green found Alyssa Mendoza open for a pass just outside the box.  Mendoza put one move on the defender and another on the keeper before sliding the ball into the lower right corner of the net.  It was Mendoza's third goal of the season and gave the Bobcats a 2-1 lead with just 13 minutes remaining in regulation.

Saddleback then put the game out of reach when Beu worked her magic for a second time.  Samantha Villasenor found Beu open on the right flank and the sophomore from Pacifica High School rattled a ball off the right post that caromed into the back of the net for a 3-1 lead in the 84^th minute. 

San Joaquin Delta scrambled to try and generate some offense down the stretch, but was unable to mount a comeback on a Saddleback defense that kept the Mustangs off the scoreboard over the final 83 minutes of the game.

Saddleback's win puts the Bobcats in the state championship game on Sunday where they will face Chaffey College.  The Bobcats will be looking for revenge after losing to the Panthers earlier in the season, 1-0.  Saddleback and Chaffey are scheduled to start at 12:00 PM on Sunday. 

Saddleback improved to 20-2-3 overall on the season with the victory.  The 20 wins breaks a program record of 19 wins set last season. 

San Joaquin Delta finishes the season at 19-4-2.