11 penalty kicks end HHS soccer season

Hemet High School’s Varsity Girls’ soccer team’s quest for a regional title ended Friday at the finals of the 2012 California Interscholastic Federation — Southern Section Tournament.

There are no ties in championships, but these two teams tried very hardto dispel that myth. The Bulldogs and the Tartans played a tenacious game that didn’t end with the final whistle. After two overtimes, the score was still 1-1. After 12 penalty kicks, the San Juan Capistrano team earned their second CIF championship.

Hemet may have been outscored, but the girls were not defeated. Victory’s scepter could have been in their arms too.

The halftime score was 1-1. St. Margaret’s had scored first, but Rosie Robinson scored Hemet’s goal near the end of the half. This was first goal scored against St. Margaret’s in the entire CIF-SS tournament.

Neither team scored in the second half nor in the two overtimes. The two teams traded penalty kick scores until Hemet’s sixth attempt, which went awry. The Tartans scored on their attempt and earned a grueling and arduous victory.

The Hemet team finished its season 23-2-2, won the Mountain Pass League Championship and finished second in the Division 6 CIF-SS tourney. St. Margaret’s won the division in 2011.

This was the third CIF championship game in 15 months for a Hemet girls’ team. The girls volleyball teams won in 2010 and this past November. This is the soccer team’s first CIF championship, one that will be long remembered.

Although Rosie Robinson graduates this spring, many of the other players including Savanah Loutzenhiser, Danika and Ali Hitchcock of Idyllwild, are returning.