A mighty win for South City

No. 4-seed South City (15-3-2) rallied from two goals down to score a dramatic 3-2 overtime win Saturday afternoon over No. 5 Sequoia (9-4-6). After the Warriors scored two goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation play, junior midfielder Fatima Waldo-Garcia delivered the victory in the 83rd minute with a bolt from the top of the box.

“I stepped up and saw the keeper was a little bit out,” Waldo-Garcia said. “I [knew] I had to do what I usually do and, fortunately, it went in.”

The Warriors took full advantage of playing with the gusting wind at their backs in the second half, utilizing the speedy advances of senior forward Iliana Sanchez to hurry toward the south goal.

Sanchez got the Warriors on the board in the 71st minute. But it was her fancy footwork in overtime that set up Waldo-Garcia’s game-winner. With the ball seemingly pinned in the corner, Sanchez controlled it, staving off a swarm of two Sequoia defenders. The senior danced around them and pivoted out of trouble to play the ball to the top of the box for Waldo-Garcia’s fateful attempt.

“She’s been doing that all year,” South City head coach Brian Mansell said. “She’s a sparkplug, she’s energetic, she works, does everything that you need. … She definitely carried us through.”

The return of Alexandra Jara also loomed large for the Warriors. Nursing a hamstring injury sustained in January, the senior forward made her first start this month.

With South City trying to chip away at a 2-0 halftime deficit, there were several frustrating moments for the Warriors in the second half, including a miss by Jara on a breakaway that sliced off her foot wide of the right post, leaving the senior walking away from the play with her head in her hands.

Still, with Sanchez flying up the wing, the Warriors stayed on the attack. It was a polar opposite feel after a first half that saw Sequoia maintain most of the offensive pressure.

“The wind was an actual factor in this game,” Sequoia head coach Melissa Schmidt said. “I’m not one to blame outside factors but in first half we’re sending these balls and they’re going over their line, and in the second half they’re hanging up. Then they were able to do that to us. … It was a game-changer; completely changed the way we were playing.”

Sequoia forward Heather Benway tallied both first-half goals, including an impressive give-and-go in the 12th minute to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead. Benway forced a takeaway in the middle third, then played it over to the Sequoia midfield before taking off downfield to receive a perfect pass from Kira Spottiswood in stride, pushing into the box and firing into the left corner for the score.

Benway doubled the lead in the 35th minute after Spottiswood intercepted a South City goal kick. The Ravens quickly moved upfield and converged on the goal in a cluster, allowing Benway to take a short pass off the post and tap it in, upping the lead to 2-0.

South City, however, used halftime to regroup.

“We felt with the wind, obviously, in the first half was going to be to their advantage,” Mansell said. “We made a couple crucial mistakes to give away the first two goals. … That was not one of our better performances for the first half at least. The second half, we just believed in ourselves and I believed in the girls, and we believed we were going to come through. We didn’t panic. We just kept the faith all the way through to the end.”

And the Warriors took it right down to the wire.

In the 71st minute, Sanchez’s foot speed finally paid off. The senior took a long curling pass over her shoulder, somehow managing to stay onside, and controlling it into the box with a defender at her back to knock it inside the left post.

But Sequoia missed a golden opportunity to answer right back, taking the ensuing kickoff downfield for sophomore Jules Kuramoto to get an open look off the right post. Her shot, however, sailed wide.

“I think we knew we had to come back and score,” Schmidt said. “We have seen South City for the last couple years, the same team, come back from being behind, and they’ve powered back. So, I really wanted a two-goal lead.”

The Ravens took aim at another good chance in the 76th minute and Benway was on the mark. But South City goalkeeper Jiselle Jimenez answered with the play of the game, leaving her feet to make an all-out diving save on Benway’s short-range attempt.

“She also had to overcome the first half,” Mansell said. “But she’s a confident player, she’s a very good goalkeeper, and she’s go a very good mentality. She went out there in the second half and made some very good saves.”

Two minutes later, in the 78th minute, South City earned a pivotal corner kick. Instead of playing it in, the Warriors opted for a short inlet to sophomore Bianca Gonzalez, who drove the end line to earn a quick cross pass to Jara, who tapped in the equalizer.

“It’s funny because [Benway] saw it happening,” Schmidt said. “That was the other thing we talked about, after the fact, is that they’re so fast on set plays. … That was the thing is, they saw their opening and they started playing with urgency. … I think because we had dominated the first half, we weren’t quite at that urgency place — right? We were a little bit comfortable. I got comfortable over here. I was like, ‘alright, we’re controlling this game.’ Whereas they just turned it up.”

This marks the second straight year the Ravens have been knocked out of the opening round of the CCS playoffs with an overtime loss. Sequoia had qualified for the CCS postseason for four straight years, three times getting eliminated in the quarterfinals.

“We’re all disappointed,” Schmidt said. “This is one of the best teams Sequoia girls’ soccer has ever had. We were in a good bracket. We’ve made CCS for a few years in a row now and, our goal has always been to make it to that final game and it’s eluded us so far. And I think people were just sad. Nobody was ready not to have practice on Monday. The fact that is open now is kind of shocking to us.”

South City now advances to the CCS Division II semifinals for yet another matchup with a Peninsula Athletic League team. The Warriors travel to top-seed Capuchino for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. kickoff in San Bruno. Cap took down No. 8 Presentation 2-0 in Saturday’s quarterfinal opener.