Scots streak into finals

He also realizes, however, that the best a defense can do is play to a scoreless tie. You still need offense to win and the Scots have plenty of it.

Both components — offense and defense — were on display Thursday afternoon in the semifinals of the CCS Division I tournament at Milpitas High. The top-seeded Scots advanced to the championship game for the second time in four years with a convincing 3-0 win over No. 4 seed Aptos.

"If we're going to get through CCS, you need defense and that's never been my philosophy," Kelly said.

Aptos was the only team to defeat Carlmont (20-1-3) this season, but the Scots were missing a handful of starters way back in November. Thursday they showed what they're capable of at full strength.

The offensive attack of Andrea Carrara, Theresa Cornwell and Mara Fintzi ran the Aptos defense ragged, while the defense, anchored by sweeper Sammy Kirberg, did not allow too many dangerous shots on goal.

The one thing that troubled Kelly the most was the Aptos goalkeeper, who is headed to Santa Clara University on a soccer scholarship.

"I thought we would score only junk goals today," Kelly said.

But the way the Scots' attackers were playing, there was no way they would be denied. The three combined to send passes into space to let the others run on to, and the midfield was so dominating that passes to the forwards resulted in dangerous chances throughout the game. The fact that Carlmont was held to only one first-half goal was a testament to the Aptos goalkeeper and the fact that Carlmont was off by just a hair.

"It's been a while since [the forwards] came together and synchronized," Kelly said. "Just the last couple of games, we haven't had that (synchronization)."

Carlmont outshot Aptos 10-0 in the first half, but as had been the case for Carlmont in past CCS games, the Scots had nothing to show for it.

Until Fintzi's moment of brilliance 10 minutes from halftime. After being taken down hard earlier, sustaining a thigh bruise, in the first half, she came back and took a perfect through pass from Cornwell. Fintzi raced past two defenders and when the goalkeeper came off her line to smother Fintzi's advance, the junior stopped on a dime, made a move to her right around the goalkeeper and poked home the game's first goal.

"[That] goal was fantastic," Kelly said.

Aptos (13-3-4) came out with a little more steam in the second half, evening the possession out early on. But the Carlmont attack just kept coming in waves at the Aptos defense.

Carrara, the Scots' leading scorer, made a surprise start and took advantage. Carrara was initially supposed to sit out the rest of the tournament after picking up two yellow cards and an ejection in the Scots' 1-0 win over Leland in the quarterfinals Saturday. But after reviewing a tape of the game, CCS decided to reinstate Carrara.

"The referee (who ejected Carrara) was contacted. (We found out) she was not sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct," Kelly said. "CCS said to me, 'If [the yellow cards] were unsportsmanlike conduct, she would not play.'"

Carrara made the most of the second chance, scoring Carlmont's second goal 15 minutes into the second half. She took a long pass from Maggie Harrelson, ran by the defenders and blasted a shot high into the net, just inside the far right post.

Cornwell made it 3-0 minutes later. A ball skipped off the head of an Aptos defender into space and Cornwell ran onto the ball and broke in on the goal. With the defense in hot pursuit, the Aptos goalkeeper again came off her line and initially stopped Cornwell's progress.

But Cornwell stayed with the play, gathered the ball and put it in the empty net for the final goal of the game.

"Our attack adjusted really well in the second half. We didn't have good shape, good balance in the first half," Kelly said. "I thought [the Aptos goalkeeper] did everything she possibly could. I thought her defensive line got beat by our forwards and was put in a bad position several times."

Despite the win, there were no big celebrations on the part of the Scots. Winning in the semifinals was not the goal — nothing short of a CCS championship will suffice.

"They believe this was meant to happen," Kelly said. "The last time we were here, we won a semifinal game and we ran off the field like it was the championship game.

"They believe they're supposed to be here."