SUNSET LEAGUE GIRLS’ SOCCER : Marina’s Two-Week Run Ends With Victory, Title

Two weeks ago, the Marina girls’ soccer team had a decision to make.

After losing at home to Edison for their second Sunset League loss, the Vikings had to decide whether to call it a season or dig down deep and try to go unbeaten the rest of the year.

The Vikings put the finishing touches on their decision Thursday at Ocean View.

In a winner-take-all situation, Marina defeated Ocean View, 2-1, to take the Sunset League title.

The Vikings, who put themselves in position to win the title by beating Edison to avenge the earlier loss, ended the season at 10-2 in league. Ocean View, which needed just a tie to win the league, finished 9-2-1.

“That was the turning point for us,” Marina Coach Bobby Bruch said of the loss to Edison. “We could have called it quits. We showed some character.”

Ocean View showed some character, too. The Seahawks rebounded after giving up what Coach Ron Uehle called an unfortunate first-half goal. A Seahawk defender gently kicked the ball to goalie Lynn Brown so she could boot it out of the zone. But the ball trickled through her legs and into the goal.

The Seahawks (18-5-2 overall and ranked seventh in the county) came back just three minutes into the second half on a goal by Christie Engesser. But fourth-ranked Marina (16-4-3) got the game-winner with 17 minutes remaining, when Amy Peterson drilled a shot off the foot of an Ocean View defender past Brown. The goal was Peterson’s 20th of the season.

“We have three seniors on the team and we all wanted it,” Peterson said of the league title. “It was scary when they scored to tie it. But we knew we could do it.”

Ocean View finished in a tie for second with Edison. They will have a coin flip today to determine second place for the purpose of Southern Section playoff seedings.

“It’s a tough league,” Uehle said. “They played a tremendous game. Too bad, that was our first loss at home.”

In another Sunset League game:

Edison 1, Huntington Beach 0--Erin Bailey scored as Edison (19-5-1, 9-2-1) blanked Huntington Beach (8-11-2, 3-6-2).