Two late goals lift Mater Dei over Troy for Division 1 title

Mater Dei celebrates its come-from-behind victory over Troy in the CIF-SS Division 1 championship game at El Modena High. It’s the Monarchs’ fifth section title.

Mater Dei forward Valentina Labuschagne, right, shoots and scores the first of her two goals in the final eight minutes of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game against Troy on Saturday night. Photos by Jeff Antenore

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By David Delgado

correspondent

ORANGE — With just eight minutes left in regulation and the Mater Dei girls soccer team trailing by a goal, things began to look bleak for the Monarchs.

But Valentina Labuschagne wouldn’t let her team go down without a fight.

Labuschagne scored a pair of goals in the final eight minutes, the tying goal off a scramble from a corner kick and the go-ahead goal from 35 yards away, to shock Troy late and snatch the CIF-SS Division 1 championship with a 2-1 victory Saturday night at El Modena High.

Mater Dei coach Matty West gave credit to the Warriors and also praised Labuschagne on her exceptional impact.

“I first want to say that Troy was a really impressive side, on a very good day and extremely well coached,” West said. “Their girls were really classy and skillful and they made great decisions and we were really fortunate to get that first one, and that gave us a lot of belief.”

“Once we got that we knew, we had to get that next one and it was gonna take something special and Valentina provided (that), and just she scored an incredible goal at an incredible time, and I couldn’t be happier for her.”

The Monarchs (14-6-4) collected their fifth section title, third with West at the helm and their first since 2015.

“I missed a couple early in the game and was upset about it, but you know, what could you do?” Labuschagne said. “I was dribbling and I was like, let me beat this player and see what I got. And I was like, let me hit this and see if it goes in. And thank God it went in.”

Warriors goalkeeper Ava De Leest was caught off guard by the long distance shot that found the upper left corner of the net in the 77th minute.

It was a devastating blow to a Troy team seeking the program’s first CIF-SS title.

Troy coach Ben Rogers was crushed over the result.

“Credit to Mater Dei, unbelievable resilience,” he said. “You know, to get the first goal and then an unbelievable goal with, you know, about five minutes left, credit to them. They’re a fantastic team. It just didn’t go our way tonight, you know. Heartbreaker, but we’ll learn from this, we’ll grow and get better.”

“I’m so proud of my girls for how far we’ve come,” Rogers added, “and the resilience that they’ve shown. But this one will hurt for a while, but, you know, in the end, it’ll make us stronger for sure.”

Montana Longcrier opened the scoring for Troy (18-3-2) six minutes into the second half after a nice pass over the top from Naomi Hochgesang.

“That was our plan, to hit those balls in behind,” Rogers said. “We knew that she (Longcrier) would be doing well in those matchups, and sure enough she won it and got in behind, slotted it away. You know, we needed one more, but that’s all good now. Part of the game.”