Vista girls get late goal to tie; wins section title on PKs

A perfect ending after a not so perfect start is a good way to describe Vista del Lago's Sac-Joaquin Section Division III girls' soccer championship. Tuesday at Cosumnes River College, Capital Athletic League rival Christian Brothers had scored the game's first goal when Vista keeper Kayli Cokley could only get a tip of a finger on a high shot attempt and then teammate Kiera Spencer, trying to clear the ball, knocked it in her own net. At the end of the game, Cokley stopped a penalty kick attempt and as fate would have it, Spencer was the next player to take a turn from the stripe and scored the game-winning goal, as the Eagles won the Division III section championship, 1-1, 8-7 in penalty kicks. "I can't explain how this feels," Spencer said after her game-winning kick, her first penalty kick on her high school team. "I was a little bit nervous. Top right is where I always go and I hit it." Vista's first seven kicks were true off the feet of Marieke Ten Brink, Darcy Duncan, Alex Klos, Megan Gover, Anna Olson, Maddison Brossart, and Klaire Horton. The Falcons first seven kicks were also golden, until Cokley dove to her left and saved the eighth kick, setting up Spencer's game-winner. It was a long-awaited section championship that both the team and head coach Kennedy Chongo wanted and openly discussed. Chongo said at the beginning of the season that the team's goal was a section title and nothing less. "I knew the girls could get here and win it," Chongo said. "I didn't say it to be cocky; I said it in a motivational way. I knew we had some good players coming back; the girls knew it, and I had faith in the team. Being able to win it is so satisfying." "It's amazing," Cokley said. "We worked so hard for this." Klos added, "It's so exciting to win." The first half wasn't particularly good for the Eagles. First came the own goal, but then there wasn't much positive to take away from the offensive attack either, as the Eagles struggled to put anything together. "I was coming at a weird angle and tried to clear it, but I made mistake," Spencer said of her clearing attempt and goal. "It hit off my shin and went in the goal." "At the half I was nervous; I'm not going to lie, but at the same time I felt my team would pull through," Cokley said. Added Klos, "I wasn't frustrated at half, I was just trying to stay positive and motivate the team." Chongo encouraged the team to remain composed, play as a team and don't be afraid to make a mistake; just go out and play soccer. In the second half, Vista possessed the ball a bit better early on and really started to make things happen in the attacking third in the final 20 minutes when Renee Davis moved up from defense. She and Horton, Ten Brink, Duncan, and Klos, among others, started to hit some combinations and created some deep throw-ins and corner kicks. In the game's final minute with their season on the line, Klos took a free kick from the left side from about 40 yards out and found the back of the net for the game-tying goal. "I love taking those kicks further away from the goal like that," Klos said. "I usually just want to put them in the box, but I saw the keeper creeping out so I thought why not, I'll go for it. "I really felt our energy start to build about midway through the second half. In the first half, I felt like we were holding back and just letting them attack. I knew if we tied it we would win. We're good at PKs."