La Reina Withers in the Weather; Pasadena Poly Wins in Overtime : Prep soccer: LaFemina stops 17 shots, but top-seeded Panthers capture girls’ Southern Section Division IV championship, 2-1.

Pasadena Poly High has long known the virtue of patience, a quality that came in handy during the Southern Section Division IV girls’ soccer championship Saturday against La Reina.

For the third consecutive year, Pasadena Poly needed overtime to finish off an opponent in the final. A goal by Kim Rakow, 6 1/2 minutes into the first of two 10-minute overtime sessions, lifted the Panthers to the 2-1 victory at Gahr High in Cerritos.

That ruined a gutsy performance in 90-degree heat by the second-seeded Regents (18-4-1), particularly goalkeeper Jenny LaFemina, who turned back 17 Panther shots. Top-seeded Pasadena Poly completed its season with a record of 23-0-4.

“Our problem was we lost our speed in the heat,” La Reina Coach Joe Laraneta said. “The heat got us good. We were just sucking air.”

La Reina took a 1-0 lead at the 8:14 mark when freshman Tamra Cutter headed in a corner kick from Jaye Brant at the near left post. Cutter scored again two minutes later off a corner kick from the right side by Samantha Conroy, but the goal was disallowed because Cutter punched the ball with her hand.

“The second one, if Cutter hadn’t been there, would have curved in anyway,” Laraneta said.

Pasadena Poly took advantage of the reprieve, Jennifer Giampaolo tying the score at 36:55 on a breakaway.

With Pasadena Poly making frequent mass substitutions, La Reina was forced into a defensive posture in the second half. But Giampaolo had a goal disallowed on an offsides violation in the 63rd minute and LaFemina’s eight saves kept the Regents alive.

La Reina dodged a bullet in the second minute of overtime when another Pasadena Poly goal was disallowed.

Rakow scored on a scramble in front of the net after LaFemina had stopped two previous attempts, but one of the linesmen signaled that the ball had gone out of bounds along the left sideline before it was centered.

It took only 4 1/2 minutes for Rakow to get another chance. Taking a pass from the right wing by Lauren Chapman, Rakow broke free in the middle and scored.

LaReina had only two scoring opportunities in the final 90 minutes, but a first-half blast from Alica Moon curved inches over the crossbar and a point-blank shot by Michelle Nuesca was blocked.