Girls Soccer: Carondelet Beats SRV in Extra Time for First NCS Title in 10 Years

No. 1 Carondelet 1, No. 2 San Ramon Valley 0

The Star: Carondelet’s Alison Stribling scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute to give the Cougars the win.

The Turning Point: San Ramon Valley controlled the game for most of the first half, but as the game wore on, Carondelet started to create more chances. The Cougars’ best scoring chance until Stribling found the net came when Rogan Dolan hit the crossbar near the end of regulation.

What’s Next? Carondelet finishes the year 19-2-3, while San Ramon ends at 18-4-4.

The Quote: “Sometimes when it leaves your foot you know it’s going in,” Stribling said. “I think I jumped before it even went in.”

The Bottom Line: The Cougars can celebrate their first North Coast Section soccer championship since 2001 — doing so against a San Ramon Valley program which has qualified for the past six NCS championship games.

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With nine returning starters – seven of which garnered All-EBAL honors last season —  girls soccer coach Rick Morin knew he had a team capable of winning the North Coast Section Division I title. 

“I actually thought we had a team that could have won it last year,” said Morin of his team that fell to San Ramon Valley in the semifinals last year.

Winning the Tri-Valley Classic and the East Bay Athletic League title reinforced his preseason evaluation and helped the Cougars earn the top seed. But as several No. 1 seeds have learned over the years, the single elimination NCS girls soccer playoffs are tricky to navigate through.

They’re even more difficult when San Ramon Valley is involved.

The Wolves won four-straight titles from 2006-2009 — never as the top seed — and were the runners up last year when Castro Valley became the first non-EBAL team to win the NCS title at the highest level.

For large parts of Saturday’s NCS final between the No. 2-seeded Wolves and Carondelet at Dublin High, it looked like the Wolves were poised to pick up their fifth NCS title in six years.

Carondelet made sure that didn’t happen.

Senior Alison Stribling broke a 0-0 tie in the ninth minute of extra time to give the Cougars (19-2-3) their first NCS title since 2001. Fellow senior Shauna Herman picked up the assist poking it to Stribling who managed to get free.

“Sometimes when it leaves your foot you know it’s going in,” Stribling said. “I think I jumped before it even went in.”

The low, bending shot from 17 yards out beat a diving Beth Ritter and grazed off the right post and into the side of the net prompting an immediate dog pile by the Cougars.

Stribling said the Cougars, which have 14 players who play club soccer in the Danville-based Mustang Soccer Club, really get up to play San Ramon.

“We love them,” she said. “They are our rivals.”

For the third time this year, the Cougars came out on top against the Wolves. The first came in the finals of the Tri-Valley Classic when the teams battled to a 0-0 tie through regulation before Carondelet won in penalty kicks and the second was a 1-0 result during EBAL play. The Cougars also forfeited a match against the Wolves during league play.

“I thought we played great — both teams did,” San Ramon Valley coach Mark Jones said. “Other than the result, I couldn’t be any happier with how we played.“

Carondelet got a strong effort from Cal-bound Kory Lamet, who recorded three shots on goal and did a good job distributing from her center midfield position.

Reilly Parker did a nice job running the left wing for San Ramon (18-4-4), which seemed to have more scoring chances than Carondelet. The best came in about the 35th minute when a volley attempt by Allie Begin in front of the goal soared just above the bar.

Rogan Dolan had two good scoring chances for Carondelet. Her first was a breakaway in the first minute of the second half, but Ritter came off her line to prevent Dolan from getting off a shot. The second was a shot which hit the crossbar just before the end of regulation. 

“This is a high-character group that works really hard,” Morin said. “I’m really proud of them.”

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