Lady Jaguars fall in second round of field hockey playoffs

After dominating on defense in a series of shutouts to close out the regular season, the Valley Center varsity field hockey team eked out another one-goal shutout to win its first CIF Division II playoff game and scored big in the second round, but couldn’t come up with a goal to take a close loss in the semifinals.
The Lady Jaguars won their final three regular season games without giving up a goal, while racking up a total of nine goals over that stretch to ride into the playoffs on a wave of momentum.
In the first round, the Lady Jags downed Helix at home, 1–0, setting up a quarterfinal match at La Jolla.
Valley Center finally conceded its first goal in four games, but the Lady Jaguars scored plenty of their own in taking a 4–2 win.
Kelly Hagadorn led the way with a goal and an assist, while Victoria Navarro, Laura Sengestacke and Chelsea Dyer each added a goal. Danielle Moran made four saves in goal to get the win.
But the Lady Jags’ season came to an end on Thursday, as they traveled to San Dieguito Academy and came up on the short end of a 1–0 loss in the semifinals.
San Dieguito put pressure on the Lady Jaguars early, keeping the ball in the Valley Center defensive zone for most of the first half. But the Lady Jags held strong, sweeping aside chance after chance. In goal, Moran came up huge with a save on a penalty stroke after a near score, as she stuck her left hand out and knocked the shot away.
The Lady Jaguars came close to a goal when Sengestacke ripped a shot that clanged off the post, but San Dieguito cleared the ball away to end the threat.
The Lady Mustangs finally broke through late in the first half, as they kept the ball in the offensive zone, earned a penalty corner, put a shot on goal that was saved, then punched in a rebound to get on the board.
Valley Center came right back with an offensive charge late in the half, but couldn’t score on a pair of penalty corners and trailed by one at halftime.
The second half unfolded much the same way as the first half, as the Lady Jags couldn’t get the ball out of their own zone. The few chances Valley Center did manage to get were closely watched by the San Dieguito defense, and the Lady Jags couldn’t manage to get a shot on goal.
Valley Center furiously put together a flurry of chances late in the game, but San Dieguito held on and took the win.
The Lady Jaguars finish the season with a record of 18–6–1 and a league record of 5–2.