Hilmar High girls soccer headed to NorCal title match after winning on penalty kicks
When Hilmar High sophomore Sidney Logsdon saw the ball go into the net she immediately turned to see her teammates celebrating.
Logsdon sprinted into their arms as the Yellowjackets girls soccer team celebrated a 5-4 victory on penalty kicks after top-seeded Hilmar and No. 4 University Prep of Redding remained scoreless after regulation and a 15-minute, sudden-death overtime period on Thursday afternoon in the Northern California Regional Division V semifinals at Hilmar High School.
“It looked like (the goalie) was kind of going to grab it but when I saw that she didn’t I was filled with emotions,” Logsdon said. “I just saw my team and it was just amazing, it was awesome.”
Hilmar (24-5-2) will host No. 6 Winters in the NorCal championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. Winters defeated No. 2 Lowell in penalty kicks after the two teams were still tied 1-1 after overtime in the other semifinal.
“It’s history,” said Hilmar coach Guy Bettencourt. “This has never happened on the girls side. A girls team had never made it to NorCal. As a D5 school, we just played a Division 2 team, so little Hilmar doing this is great for the community. The support that we got from the school today was awesome.”
The Yellowjackets battled against a Panthers team that was big and physical.
Hilmar had the upper hand throughout the second half and overtime.
The Yellowjackets had a golden opportunity to score early in the second half when a University Prep player was whistled for a hand ball in the box.
Hilmar’s leading scorer Brisa Gonzales fired the penalty shot, but Panthers goalie Kiera Sheffield made a diving save to preserve the scoreless tie.
The Yellowjackets had the best opportunity to score in overtime when Logsdon received a pass in front of the goal and fired a shot into the back of the net, but she was whistled for a hand ball and the goal was erased.
The match eventually headed to penalty kicks and Hilmar opted to kick second.
Bettencourt and his coaching staff hand-picked his five players to take the penalty kicks in Raylynn Mendonza, Alyssa Colston, Finley Rosa, Gonzales and Logsdon and all five delivered goals.
University Prep’s Ava Ranker, who excelled on defense throughout the match, missed the Panther’s second penalty kick attempt as her kick sailed over the crossbar.
That set the stage for Logsdon to seal the victory.
“Leading up the kick I was really nervous,” Logsdon said. “I’ve done PK’s before and I’ve made most of them, but there were a few I missed. Basically it comes down to placing it right.”
Logsdon saw that Sheffield was shading her to the right side so Logsdon went left with her shot and watched as it skidded to the back of the net.
Logsdon’s goal set off a wild celebration as some players and fans were in tears after an emotional match.
“It’s crazy, it’s really exciting because this has never happened before,” Logsdon said. “We didn’t even know if we were going to make it this far. Now to just be in the championship, we want to go all the way.”
