Cristiano Leads Woodbridge Past Sunny Hills

Junior Sierra Cristiano, playing in her first season at forward, scored three goals, set a school record and led Woodbridge to a 3-0 victory over Sunny Hills in Southern Section Division II girls’ soccer Thursday at Heritage Park.

The victory advanced the third-seeded Warriors to the semifinals for the first time. They will play Walnut on Tuesday.

Cristiano’s three goals gives her 19 this season, surpassing the Woodbridge record of 16 by Lizzy Lemiere and Talia Emery.

“I was thinking about [breaking the record], but I could care less about the person scoring. I just want to go on in CIF,” Cristiano said.

After a scoreless first half, Cristiano, a defender last season, recorded her second hat trick of the season, on three almost identical plays.

“Sunny Hills was clogging the center in the first half,” Woodbridge Coach William Bell said. “It was like trying to get through the Great Wall of China. So we spread out the offense and worked on drawing them out.”

Three minutes into the second half, Janelle Loudat took the ball down the right sideline, evaded three defenders and sent a perfect cross to Cristiano, who was marking the far post. Cristiano came in and headed a shot into the corner for a 1-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, freshman Ina Kain crossed a ball from the right side again, and Cristiano was there to meet it. This time she settled the ball with her back to the goal, spun around the defender and slammed it by Lancer goalkeeper Ashley Moskovich.

Cristiano closed her scoring with 10 minutes left in the game, when Kain sent a cross from almost the same location, Cristiano knocked it down and drilled it into the goal.

Sunny Hills (19-4-6) took only four shots in the game and Jackie Pagano was responsible for a large part of that, shutting down Lancer leading scorer Simi Phull, who has 26 goals and 18 assists this season.

“She did a wonderful job on her,” Bell said. “I’m just glad Woodbridge finally got up there [semifinals] and we will get recognized.”