It took nine rounds of a penalty-kick shootout on Thursday for Ripon Christian’s girls soccer team to earn a second straight appearance in the CIF Division V Northern Regional championship game.

The visiting Knights battled second-seeded Watsonville in Santa Cruz County to a 2-2 draw through 80-plus minutes of regulation and a 15-minute sudden-death overtime before squeaking it out on PKs, 6-5.
Senior goalkeeper Morgan Schenk came up with a big deflection in round 9 of the shootout, and sophomore Kylie Koolhaas put the final shot away to punch the final-round ticket for No. 3 Ripon Christian (19-7-1).

The Knights will get another shot at No. 1 Lowell (12-2) of San Francisco on Saturday. Last year, Lowell held off Ripon Christian 1-0 to capture the NorCal Division V title.

Schenk ended up with a whopping 22 saves.

Brooke Barnes assisted both of the Knights’ goals, with freshman Raegan Burgess on the finishing end in the first half. Senior Alanna Blanco doubled the lead eight minutes into the second half.

Watsonville (15-6-1) was able to sneak in two goals in the final minutes, the equalizer coming during the six-minute stoppage time.

In the SoCal bracket, No. 3 Kennedy (20-5-2) of Delano and No. 8 Coastal Academy (17-4-2) of Oceanside square off for a chance to play in the first state championships for soccer. The Division V state final is set for March 13 at Natomas High in Sacramento.

BOYS TENNIS

Sierra 9, Patterson 0

It was all Timberwolves (3-1, 4-3 overall) in the Valley Oak League match, as they won four matches by 6-0, 6-0 scores.

Earning the shutouts were No. 5 singles player Noah Brum and all three doubles teams, No. 1 Arnav Sah/Raunak Mahar, No. 2 Ashvin Gill/Leelasourav Veeravalli and No. 3 Sri Kaipu/Johan Arroyo.

Harshith Kumar took care of Kellan Brooke in the No. 1 singles match, 6-1, 6-1. No. 2 Ryan Alves (6-0, 6-2), No. 3 Ashton Hillard (6-2, 6-0), No. 4 Himmat Dosanjh (6-1, 6-1) and No. 6 Sagar Shah (6-1, 6-1).

SOFTBALL

Manteca 10, Lodi 7

Trailing 5-2 after four innings, the Buffaloes (3-1) rallied for six runs in the sixth inning for the non-league road win.

“Great comeback win today,” Manteca coach Josh Farris said. “We were down, but the girls never gave up. They had a lot of unselfish at-bats today, which shows how much they believe in their teammates.”

Na’ima Calderon powered the Manteca attack with her 4-for-4 effort that included a triple, a walk, two runs and three RBIs.

Bella Cooper went 2 for 3 with a run and a steal. Maleiah Garza (RBI) and Sienna Owen (walk, two runs, RBI) both finished 2 for 4.

Winning pitcher Riley Ward threw the final 4 2/3 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits, a walk and six strikeouts.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

St. Mary’s 3, East Union 1

The Lancers (4-6) came up short in Stockton, 18-25, 25-23, 19-25, 14-25.

Jon Apsay led the attack with 11 assists and five service points.

James Russell came up with three kills and two solo blocks. Isaias Rodriguez turned in four points, two aces, two blocks and three digs.

JV boys volleyball

St. Mary’s 2. East Union 1

Narco Chandida recorded three kills and three blocks in the Lancers’ 15-25, 16-25 defeat.

Sam Dorman handed out five assists while adding two kills of her own.