Sonoma Advances To WCLL Final Four

Rohnert Park, CA - Sonoma State avenged a regular season loss to Stanford with a 15-14 OT victory on "The Farm" on Saturday.  On back to back weeks senior Brent Tovrea got the game winning goal to lead the Seawolves to victory.

The game opened with Stanford's faceoff man, Brian Hanley, taking the opening faceoff for a goal.  The Seawolves answered back to bring it to 1-1.  What seemed like would be a back and forth affair took a turn as the Cardinal dominated faceoffs and were able to get out to a 6-3 lead at halftime.  Goalie Andrew Moore ('21) was excellent in cage registering 12 first half saves (18 on the game).  The defense while giving up 10 only allowed one in a 4 minute releasable penalty due to an illegal crosse.  The second half saw the defense hold down the fort surrendering just four goals in 33 minutes.

Meanwhile the offense scored three in the first, but then sputtered a bit before heating up in the 3rd and fourth quarters.  Getting three in the first and just two in the second the Seawolves trailed 10-5 going into the second half, but it was all Sonoma from there on out.  Seawolves and Cardinal traded goals early and it was 12-7 late in the third, but then a 4-0 run brought the Seawolves to 12-11 with 10 minutes left.  

Stanford responded with a run of their own to lead 14-11 with 7 minutes left, but Sonoma got a goal from Senior Angelo Lagomarsino to bring it to 14-12.  With 1:55 left, Senior Spencer O'Reilly scored on a feed from Trent Jones ('22).  The defense held strong and got a turnover with 35 seconds left.  A quick clear by senior Mac Quinn ended in a Hayden Dall ('21) dodge and feed to Piombo for the game tying goal with two seconds left.

Overtime featured a faceoff loss, but strong defensive stand resulting in Sonoma ball on offense.  Sonoma turned it over on a feed to the middle, but rode the ball back and Stanford threw it out of bounds.  On the ensuing possession Senior Brent Tovrea stung the game winner on a nice bounce shot to the far pipe.

OVERTIME WINNING GOAL! MCLA WCLL DIV I First Round Stanford Cardinals vs Sonoma State Sea Wolves 04.20 from SKYNNET PRO on Vimeo

Sonoma faces Cal at Rancho Cotate HS, 12pm faceoff, in the WCLL semifinals.

Photo Credit Brian Baer