Goal Just In Time for Wedding : Soccer: Surf under-16 girls eke out victory, then watch as coach is married on the field.

It was already planned: To celebrate Sunday’s San Diego Surf Cup Championship, Brian McNeill, coach of the Surf’s under-16 girls’ team, would get married right there on the grass of the Rancho Santa Fe Polo Club.

And everything was going smoothly. The flowers had arrived, the minister was on time, and the altar--the goal box at the end of an adjacent field--was set up. Everything was in place except the final victory.

Which proved much more elusive than in the script.

Every time the Surf scored to go ahead, the Phoenix Eclipse came back to tie it.

McNeill feared as much.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to play this team in the final,” he said.

With the score tied, 2-2, the bride could take no more.

“I can’t watch this,” said Francine Marseille. “I’m going to change into my dress.”

The suspense heightened after she left--the tie grew to 3-3.

It stayed that way into the final minute of the game, and with the seconds ticking down and the bride in no mood to endure two 10-minute overtime periods, Surf midfielder Dena Endo ran onto a loose ball and let go with a right-footed shot from 35 yards out that bent into the upper-left corner of the goal. 4-3.

“I wasn’t really thinking about having to win before the wedding,” Endo said. “I just knew there wasn’t much time left, so I decided to shoot.”

With the goal, Endo fulfilled a promise solicited by teammate Kathy Fouts.

“Right before the game, I told her, ‘You have to score a goal,’ ” Fouts boasted. “She said she would, but I told her that wasn’t good enough. I told her she had to promise, and she finally did.”

Phoenix’s three goals, all scored by Wendy Woolgar, were the first allowed by the Surf in the tournament’s five games. In fact, in pool play, the Surf had shut out Phoenix, 2-0.

“That’s why I didn’t want to play them again,” McNeill said. “We knew they were a better team than 2-0.”

JoAnn Blinkey, Summer Harrison and Caroline Dillon also scored for the Surf, who were playing without goalie Jennifer Davis and midfielder Nikki Serlenga, both of whom were injured in the semifinal round.

Soccer notes

Surf teams advanced at least to the semifinal in six of the tournament’s seven divisions over the weekend, and three of those teams made it to the championship game: In the under-15 girls’ division, the Kenwood Shooting Star upended the Surf, 2-1, and in the boys’ under-15 division Juventus of Cerritos edged the Surf, 3-2. Other divisional championship games: boys’ under-19--Alta Loma Arsenal 1, Bonita Rebels 0; boys’ under-17--La Jolla Nomads 2, Albuquerque Legends 1; boys’ under-16--San Jose Outlaws 3, Hacienda Heights Knights 2. . . . It was the first time in the nation, as far as any of the participating coaches could remember, that a soccer tournament has been held at one site (14 fields were outlined on the polo grounds). “And they’re 14 great fields, too,” said Peter Gunby, coach of Arsenal. “If all the tournaments were like this, it would be fantastic.” In the past, competition was held at more than 30 sites. At the Dallas Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, fields are spread all over the city. “Instead of being 40 miles apart,” said the Nomads’ Brian McManus, “you can walk around to other fields and support your club’s other teams. This is ideal.” . . . One of McManus’ players, Jovan Kirovski, will leave shortly for England, where he will spend the next year as an apprentice with Manchester United.