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Sage Hill girls soccer edges La Mirada in penalty-kick shootout to win first CIF-SS title

March 2, 2025

ORANGE — One hundred minutes of play on the field was not enough time to decide a winner between the Sage Hill and La Mirada girls soccer teams Saturday at El Modena High.

The contest would come down to penalty kicks, and even that came down to the final shot.

With the Matadores trailing 4-3 and down to the last of their five kicks, senior Kiersten Mahan’s shot hit the crossbar and Sage Hill prevailed in the shootout to win the CIF-SS Division 4 championship.

Sage Hill players and coaches began their jubilant celebration of the program’s first CIF-SS championship as soon as Mahan’s shot bounced away from the goal.

Sage Hill coach Isaac Sierra said his team was ready for the moment.

“Not just the experience in playoffs,” Sierra said, “but if I can be honest, I mean, it’s something we’ve been working on at the end of every practice from start to finish this season. It’s something that we preached about, you know, making sure we’re ready for all the little details in the game and understanding the importance of little details, because sometimes they go for granted. For us to be practicing them all season long and finally have to do it a couple times this year, it paid off.”

La Mirada (13-9-1) began the shootout by missing its first attempt as Giselle De Anda’s kick sailed over the crossbar.

Gisselle Barron, Keila Fukuda, Sydney Patel, Capri Hall all converted from the spot for Sage Hill (16-3), as did Zoey Santiago, Zoe Chang and Mia Carrillo for the Matadores.

When it came down to the last kicker for the Lightning, Jaden Rall’s shot was stopped by La Mirada goalie Mia Cook.

“She’s a special kid. She’s a freshman, but she’s special.” Sierra said of Rall. “It’s only a matter of time before we start to see her in bigger, better moments. But listen, I had all my faith in her and I still have all my faith in her. Nothing changes.”

Lightning goalkeeper Finley Maynard gave her account from in front of the net.

“It’s hard to predict where players are going to go,” she said, “or even for the shooters’ side, where I’m going to go. And it’s just a very high-pressure situation, and thank God it hit the crossbar because that secured the win for us.”

“She was disciplined, she knew how to make herself as big as she could,” Sierra said. “She didn’t necessarily have to get a piece on the ball, but I feel like she had the intimidation or played her role in making that moment that much bigger and more special.”

“I’m just feeling an immense amount of gratitude and pride for my school and my teammates,” Maynard added.

Sierra reflected on his team’s historic victory.

“I’m just so proud of them,” he said, “they dug so deep all season and for them to finally be rewarded for all the hard work that they’ve given us throughout the last five months has been special.

“I wish I could say more because there’s so much emotion that I’m feeling for them right now, but the best word is really just special.”

Orange County Register

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Sage Hill girls soccer edges La Mirada in penalty-kick shootout to win first CIF-SS title

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