After coming off an opening round win against JW North on Wednesday, Fullerton’s quarterfinal opponent was the top seeded Pasadena Poly Panthers. The Panthers then showed the crowd at Sunny Hills High School why they were given the top spot in the bracket, as they ended Fullerton’s season with an 11-7 win to move on to the semifinals.
Pasadena Poly (22-5, 11-1) used a big defensive effort against Fullerton (16-7, 4-3), as they forced the Indians into committing 16 turnovers, while the Panthers only gave up 8.
It did not take long for the scoring to begin in the pool, as junior Natalie Clark put a shot past Fullerton’s Hannah Officer a minute and 32 seconds in the game to give them the first points of the game. Megan Kelleher then gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead, but 15 seconds after Kaya Ortega gave the Indians their first point of the game.
Morgan Shafia scored with over a minute left to give the Panthers another two-point lead, but Ortega scored a goal with just 12 seconds remaining in the first to make the game 3-2 in favor of the Panthers.
The second quarter belonged completely to Poly, as they scored 5 five goals in the quarter to build a comfortable 8-2 lead.
“That second quarter really gave them the edge. It’s what gave them the win,” said Fullerton Head Coach Shane Unger.
Lauren Brown was able to break the Panther’s run as she scored with 25 second left in the quarter to go into halftime down 8-3.
The third quarter saw the pace of the game slow down, as Poly looked to hold on to its five-point lead. Natalie Clark scored over a minute into the quarter to give Poly its largest lead of the game, 9-3. The Indians were able to respond with goals from Erica Barton and Sophie Zener to cut their deficit to 9-5 with a quarter left in play.
Poly’s Colleen Woo scored the quarter’s opening point to give the Panthers a 10-5 lead. Needing to score, Fullerton’s Emmy Yzguerra scored with over 3 minutes left. Kelleher scored for Poly soon after to push Fullerton away, but Kaya Ortega scored 17 seconds after Kelleher to give the Indians a chance to complete the comeback. The Indians were unable to comeback, as Poly got key stops and held onto the ball to preserve their 4-point win.
Even though Fullerton fell short of reaching the semifinals, Coach Unger felt that his team played a great game.
“Other than the second quarter, we played them evenly. It goes to show you the difference between the number one seed and the tenth seed. We played the top team good,” Unger said.
With the loss, Fullerton’s season comes to an end, while Pasadena Poly will advance to the CIF quarterfinals to take on the winner between Malibu and Santa Ana Valley.
As for how he felt about his team’s season, Unger had nothing but praise for his squad.
“We played beyond expectations…no one expected anything from us. I came to this team late this year, and they showed me how great they were. I am super proud of this team.”
