Eight Valley Christian seniors were honored prior to the girls soccer game against Sacred Heart Prep Saturday morning. It was a much more intimate ceremony over on the Gators' sideline.
"It's senior day over there, and it's Liz day over here," SHP head coach Jake Moffat said.
Moffat wore a shirt saying "We love Liz" across the chest honoring the lone SHP senior this season, midfielder Liz Papangellin.
Papangellin received flowers from her teammates and posed for a couple pictures with her parents before the start of her final SHP home game.
"I've been thinking about this moment since I was a freshman," Papangellin said. "There was only one senior on the team that year, now I know how special she must have felt that day."
It nearly was a storybook ending for SHP, when Papangellin headed home a game-tying goal with under five minutes to play in the second half, tying the score at 2.
Old problems arose in stoppage time for SHP, as Valley Christian got its second score of the day off a corner kick, giving the visiting Warriors a narrow 3-2 victory at SHP in Atherton.
Sacred Heart is now 2-10-1 in league play and 7-11-1 overall with one game left in the '07-08 regular season.
"It's been the same issues for us all season, corner kicks and giving up scores in the first five minutes of games," Moffat said. "It was nice to see Liz finish that shot up front on senior day, just wish we could have pulled out the win also."
Saturday's game marked the last WCAL League meeting between the two schools, as SHP heads to the PAL Bay next season.
"It's a shame that we won't play them twice a year anymore," a Valley Christian assistant coach said. "This is a beautiful field, it's very peaceful and a great place to play soccer."
Valley Christian, which came into the game with a 7-3-2 mark in WCAL play, quickly showcased why it's one of the top teams in league.
Four minutes into the match, the Warriors struck with the first of two goals on the day off a corner kick.
The Gators rebounded nicely after the quick goal, attacking the offensive zone with quick passing and winning the loose ball battles in the midfield.
Lizzy Weisman nearly tied the game at one in the 10th minute. After receiving a nice cross from Emily Denton, Weisman banged a shot off the cross bar.
Moments later Weisman blasted a shot just high, as the Gators kept the heat on during the upset bid.
Weisman took a corner kick late in the first half and finally the Gators' hard work during the first 30 minutes was rewarded. Gianna Capovilla headed the shot past the Warriors' keeper, tying the score at 1 heading into halftime.
"We dominated play in the first half, we just couldn't get something in the net," Moffat said. "We gave up a quick score early in the first half and then we gave up another one early in the second half. We're a young team that played great soccer today, just didn't correct problems that continue to hurt us."
Valley Christian took a 2-1 lead early in the second half and led until the header from Papangellin.
"It's tough that we didn't win today, especially because we keep having trouble with corner kicks," Papangellin said. "It's hard to know I've only got one more game left. I've bonded so much with these girls and had so much fun with this team this season."
