Sequoia's Nina Mills, left, holds off Los Altos' Selya Sen in the first half of their CCS Division I first-round game. Mills scored a second-half penalty kick in the Ravens' 3-1 win.
After conceding an early goal, the Sequoia girls’ soccer team broke out of a late-season scoring slump to beat Los Altos in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoff bracket.
Fourth-seeded Sequoia (11-3-5) scored twice in the first half and added one more in the second as they beat the fifth-seeded Eagles 3-1 Saturday morning in Redwood City.
The Ravens move into the Division I semifinals Wednesday against No. 1 St. Francis (16-1-2) at a time and place to be determined. The Lancers had little trouble getting past eighth-seeded Burlingame (11-4-4) in a 4-0 win over the Panthers.
Senior midfielder Aminah Evans scored on a pair of free kicks in the first half to give Sequoia a 2-1 lead at halftime. In the second half, senior wing Nina Mills, after a number of long runs on the right flank and several dangerous crosses, earned a well-deserved penalty kick. Mills’ finish into the left corner iced the game for the Ravens.
The Ravens’ defense then kept a potent Los Altos offense in check. Right back Emma Heist highlighted the effort, as she was tasked with stopping the Eagles’ 20-goal scorer, Aoife Turner, who Sequoia head coach Melissa Schmidt said is a member of the Irish Youth National Team.
Heist locked her down, limiting Turner to just a couple of long-range efforts. Turner did manage to show flashes, but the rest of Sequoia defense picked up the slack.
Los Altos (12-6-2) had the Ravens on their heels in the opening minutes, but Sequoia earned a trio of corner kicks in quick order, but could not convert.
A Sequoia mistake on a pass out of the back resulted in the Eagles taking a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute. Brooke Neschleba stepped in front of a Ravens’ pass 40 yards from goal and immediately fed a through ball to Bella Mariona, who took a touch before blasting her shot into the roof of the net, glancing off the crossbar and down for the early lead.
A little more than 15 minutes later, the Ravens tied it up. They received a free kick 31 yards from goal, just off center. Evans stepped into the ball and beat the defensive wall and the goalkeeper to the left corner to equalize in the 25th minute.
Evans was at it again nine minutes later. Addi Haws was chopped down 25 yards out, at the top of the Eagles’ penalty. Again Evans swung her right foot through the ball and again she beat the goalkeeper to left corner of the goal to give the Ravens a 2-1 lead at the break.
Los Altos came out pressing in the second half and had the better of the possession. But Sequoia was doing enough offensively to show that the Ravens weren’t going to just sit back and absorb pressure for 40 minutes.
And in the 63rd minute, the Ravens got some breathing room. Mills was taken down in the box and she converted the spot kick to put Sequoia up 3-1 with 17 minutes to play.
Sequoia outshot Los Altos 10-9, but the Eagles had more shots on goal, with Ravens’ goalkeeper Gabi Holloszy finishing with six saves. Eagles goalie Tyra Bogan had five stops.
Sports Editor
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