The lady Bobcats were on an impressive run this season until it came to an end in the semifinals.

To kick off their first week of playoffs, the varsity girls had a bye, and then went on to defeat Central Valley HS in their quarterfinals game by a score of 4-0. From there, the Bobcats had a week to prepare for their semifinal game against Otay Ranch- who came into the match with an overall record of 14-8-2.

Sage Creek started off strong and kicked a few shots off on goal. The tie game broke loose with a corner kick from freshman Harper Hughes in minute 31, where senior Julia Zueck drilled a phenomenal header that found the back of the goal.

Only two minutes rolled by until a controversial call ended up giving junior Bailey Brennan a yellow card. With the Bobcats coach in flames, the referee explained it was for tugging the shirt of an Otay Ranch player.

“The ref made a good call, but there was no need to card me,” Brennan explained, after the game.

The first half ended with the Bobcats up 1-0.

The second half started off just as strong as the first, with the Bobcats controlling the field. Each team had their fair share of shots on goal, including the Bobcats having a close call after a fumble from the keeper. Until the 79 minute mark of the game, there were no goals scored for either team in the second half, which kept the score stuck at 1-0.

With around two minutes left in the game, a foul was called and the ball was placed at about the 25 yard line. The kicker, Emma Gaines Ramos (15), placed the ball just over the Bobcat keeper with a well executed penalty kick. The unexpected goal put the game at a 1-1 tie to end regulation time.

“The second half didn’t go as planned, we missed a few key shots and gave up a tough goal to make it a tie game,” Head Coach Courtney Drummond said.

The game was forced to go into one overtime period of 15 minutes. No goals were scored in this time, forcing the game to penalty kicks.

Each team made their first two shots, but the third shot from Sage was saved as the keeper guessed right and made an incredible save. The Bobcats needed to make every shot from then on and save at least one to stay in the runnings. However the ladies ended up conceding to the Mustangs of Otay Ranch, as the Bobcats failed to make a save of their own.

The penalty kicks ended: Otay-5 Sage-4.

After the game, all the girls had to show was pride.

“To be a brand new school, and to come as far as they did in four years, is something to be proud of. We made it this far twice the first two years we had varsity teams, and I think we are all happy about that,” Coach Drummond said.

Most of the key players on the varsity squad, are in fact seniors, so this was their last game as Bobcats. Most of, if not all were in tears. They showed what it means to be a Bobcat: to have pride and win games too. Sophomore Mary-Grace Feldman was very proud of her team’s efforts this year.

“At the end of the day it was a great season and I’m proud of everything we accomplished.”