By John M. Sherrard
With their season on the line, Mounties' sophomore attacker Hannah "Moose" Krolik received a perfect pass from freshman 2-meter player Marina Valenzuela and without hesitation, she rammed home a sudden death cross-cage goal for the 8-7 victory over Citrus College to advance to the second round of the Southern California Regionals Thursday at Golden West College.
"Hannah has come through with some clutch, clutch moments lately and that certainly was one of them," Mt. SAC coach Chris Jackson said. "It's always nice to stretch out our season another day."
After four periods in regulation the two local teams battled five more overtime periods before the game-winner.
Mt. SAC freshman 2-meter player Kayla De Herrera led all scorers with four goals.
"There was a lot of intensity and high stakes going on," De Herrera said. "This was a little more of a personal game versus a lot of other games.
Citrus had defeated the Mounties, 6-4, last month at the Long Beach tournament.
Two 3-minute overtime periods and two sudden death overtimes, Krolik then ended the longest game of the season for the Mounties in the third sudden death period.
Ninth-seeded Mt. SAC will play top-seeded Santa Barbara City College Friday morning.
"(Marina) and I made eye contact and I said, 'alright time to rip it,'" Krolik said.
"I wanted this game to be ours.
"I'm really lucky to play with these girls for my last season."
And the triple-sudden overtime winner was not the first time for Krolik.
"In high school (Ontario) I actually scored in overtime in that game too," Krolik added. "This is awesome and I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Early on it didn't look like the game would even make it to OT as the Mounties fell behind, 3-0, in the first period.
However, the Mounties came roaring back with three consecutive goals in the second period to tie the game, 3-3.
"The girls stayed in it (trailing 3-0) and battled through and they got themselves another day to play," Jackson said.
Freshman defender Alexis Aguirre scored the first goal at the 4:53 minute mark to trail, 3-1, followed by a lob by De Herrera over the Citrus goal keepers' head for her first goal and the tying goal with 30 seconds left.
De Herrera, who played at Bonita High School, is currently tied for 20th in the state with 66 goals.
The Mounties (17-11) defense held Citrus without a goal in the second period with constant pressure and timely steals.
Valenzuela scored from way out at 5:12 of the third period to give the Mounties their first lead of the game, 4-3, but Citrus scored two unanswered goals to retake the lead, 5-4, after three periods.
De Herrera scored two goals in a row late in the fourth period to give Mt. SAC the 6-5 lead.
With 1:57 left in regulation the Owls tied the game, setting up the dramatic overtime periods.
In the first of two OTs, Mt. SAC attacker Clare Rowland, from 5-meters out, scored on a perfectly-placed lob shot to lead, 7-6.
"It was pretty of exciting and I don't take a lot of shots," Rowland said. "I'm happy I took the one I did and it went in.
"That (triple-sudden death) was crazy, I've never done that before."
Citrus scored the only goal in the second overtime to tie the game, 7-7, for the fifth time in the game.
Both teams had opportunities in the first sudden death, with De Herrera hitting the top of the goal with less than a minute to play.
In the second sudden death, both goalies made big stops, but none bigger than
the Mt. SAC goalie with 2:22 left in the third sudden death period on a Citrus lob shot.
On the very next Mountie possession, Krolik would end the marathon thriller.
Follow Mt. SAC Athletics on twitter @MtSAC_athletics or Facebook @Mounite.Athletics
For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.