SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II GIRLS’ SOCCER PLAYOFFS : Sunny Hills Beats Estancia in Overtime

Sunny Hills scored two goals in overtime to defeat Estancia, 2-0, in the Division II girls’ soccer quarterfinals Thursday at Estancia High School.

With six minutes left in overtime, forward Jamie Gardiner beat Estancia goalkeeper Kristina Grigaitis for the first goal.

Grigaitis was injured on the play and was replaced by Julia Schnurstein, who gave up a goal two minutes later. Megumi Takasaki shot the ball over a diving Schnurstein to wrap up the victory for Sunny Hills.

The Lancers (20-2-2) have not been scored on in 140 minutes in the playoffs. Sunny Hills Coach Kenn Gordon said Gardiner now leads the county with 34 goals.

Two players from each team received yellow cards, but Lancer Michael Cunningham received a red card with 17 minutes left in the second half, so Sunny Hills played 37 minutes shorthanded.

“(Cunningham) is one of my starting defenders,” Gordon said. “And the heart and soul of my team is defense. Without a defense, you don’t win and you don’t have a chance.”

Grigaitis saved a penalty kick just before halftime, which shifted the momentum to Estancia.

But every time an Estancia player got close to the goal, a swarm of black uniforms converged on her. Estancia (18-6-3) took eight second-half shots.

Sunny Hills forward Demerese Salter made two key saves in front of her own goal.

Sunny Hills goalie Danielle Broschak recorded eight saves, seven in the second half of regulation.

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In other Division II games:

Canyon 1, Kennedy 0 (shootout)--Canyon and Kennedy played the equivalent of three halves (a regulation game and four 10-minute overtime periods) without scoring, sending the quarterfinal game at Kennedy into penalty kicks shootout. Canyon goalkeeper Tina Thompson clinched the victory for the No. 2-seeded Comanches with a penalty-kick goal on the team’s fifth and final kick. Thompson also had nine saves and gets credit for her 21st shutout of the season. Canyon (24-2) plays host to Sunny Hills in the semifinals Tuesday.

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Los Alamitos 1, Bishop Montgomery 0--Michelle Schneider, who was assisted by Brooke Davis, scored the only goal of the game. Goalie Heather Thomas had 17 saves for Los Alamitos (18-3-2).