THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

In dramatic fashion, the Whitney High girls soccer team took out a Capital Valley Conference foe in the semifinals and will now take on another league opponent in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Championship Saturday. Whitney, the No. 4 seed, will play No. 10 Roseville at Elk Grove High School 4 p.m. Saturday. Against Cosumnes Oaks Tuesday, the two clubs battled for nearly 100 minutes before a winner was decided. “For 20 minutes it was good to completely see two teams at the end of the semis playing as hard as they were,” Wildcats head coach Ana Jones said. “After 30 minutes we started picking up the pace and playing as one team, playing as a unit.” Whitney got off at least six good shots against the Wolfpack in the first 40 minutes of the match, but the shots either missed the mark or were picked off by Cosumnes Oaks’ goalkeeper. The ‘Pack put together a couple good attacks as well, but also either missed or were rebuffed by ‘Cats’ goalkeeper Jordan Higgins. The senior made five saves in the contest. To open the second half, Whitney’s Sammie Craig charged the Wolfpacks’ goal. Cosumnes Oaks’ goalie and a defender collided with Craig at the 15-yard line with all going down. Craig did get off a shot, but it was wide. The Wildcats got off another five shots to the visitors two, but Whitney still could not find the back of the net before ending the match 0-0. After exchanging a couple shots in the first overtime period, the two teams went into the final 10 minutes. After the clock was stopped at 2 minutes, the ‘Cats continued their attack. Then Craig broke into the open and launched a shot that hit the right-upper section of Cosumnes Oaks’ net and the match was all but over. “I guess it was who wanted it more and we had the heart to do it,” said Jones, who pointed out that a number of her players were limping, including Craig. “They were all kind of dragging because they were hurt, but they didn’t want to let the team down and that was all we needed. And that was a good ending.” Jones said she had five players groomed to participate in a potential penalty-kick final, but three of them were injured. “The only thing is those three girls were among the five shooters because we had worked all week on that,” Jones said. “I just said to myself, how can those girls do a PK? They’re not strong enough and I just prayed for a miracle and it happened.” Jones said she was going to give her team a chance to rest and heal before playing Roseville Saturday. She said the club was quite familiar with the Tigers, having lost to the CVC opponent 1-0 in January and beating the Bengals 3-1 in February. Roseville went on the road for the playoffs. They defeated No. 7 River City 5-2 to open sections and then stunned No. 2 Vacaville Feb. 24. The Tigers then traveled to Granite Bay where they blanked the No. 3 Grizzlies 3-0 Wednesday to advance to the championship. “Mentally I think we’ll be ready, especially after this. You could see the look on the girl’s faces, we did it; we did it,” said Jones. “So I think by Saturday we will be ready.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

SECTION SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

JIM LINSDAU

Placer Herald | 3/3/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Whitney High School Athletics