“We want to win something and we know we deserve to win all those things,” said Sacred Heart junior defender/midfielder Natalie Zeenni. “We don’t want to end this season without winning a championship.”
Standing in the way of the Tologs (20-1-4) earning a championship berth on Friday is a Desert Christian squad (23-1-1) that was the runner-up for the Division VI crown this season after winning three consecutive titles and is also the reigning Division III regional champion.
Desert Christian defeated top-seeded Garces, 1-1 (5-4), on Monday in the opening round.
“We’ll play a mature, senior-led team that has shown itself time after time in being able to win big games,” said Tologs co-Coach Frank Pace. “That’s what we’re striving to become as a program.
“Desert Christian’s success is an aspiration for us.”
Sacred Heart advanced past the first round with a 7-0 throttling of Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, the City Section Small Schools champion, in a game that was likely one of the program’s easiest in years, as the Tologs scored all seven of their goals in the first 30 minutes.
But the Tologs are well-aware that Desert Christian will pose a far more arduous test.
“We definitely know we’re gonna have a tougher game,” Zeenni said. “We’re gonna play as if they’re Harvard-Westlake or Beckman.”
And if there was a need for added incentive, playing the defending regional champion certainly helps.
