SANTA ANA – Sam Kim set the ball on the turf. She took a deep breath.

Kim and her Mater Dei girls soccer teammates had battled Orange Lutheran through regulation and two overtimes Saturday, and their CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal remained scoreless.

Penalty kicks would decide which of the two Trinity League teams would go to the championship game.

Mater Dei’s Kendra Hansen, Valentina Labuschagne and Kate Ross scored on their penalty kicks. Orange Lutheran’s Josie Anderson and Madi Eguia scored on theirs.

Now it was Kim’s turn. The senior’s approach …

“I just have to lock in, contain my excitement,” she said. “Never acknowledge the crowd because it gets a little bit much.”

Kim’s kick was a goal, too, and proved to be the difference-maker as the Monarchs outscored Orange Lutheran 4-3 on penalty kicks to win and advance to the Division 1 final.

Mater Dei (13-6-4) will play Troy (16-2-2) in the final on Friday, Feb. 28, or Saturday, March 1. The CIF-SS will announce details on its soccer championship games Monday.

Troy and Mater Dei have not played each other this season. Troy was No. 9 and Mater Dei was No. 8 in the final Orange County girls soccer rankings that had Orange Lutheran at No. 4.

The Monarchs have won four CIF-SS girls soccer championships, the most recent one in 2015. They lost in a CIF-SS girls soccer final in 2017.

The season continues for Orange Lutheran (11-5-1). The Lancers and the Monarchs qualified for the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs when they advanced to the CIF-SS semifinals. The SoCal Regional playoffs begin March 4.

Orange Lutheran finished third and Mater Dei was fourth in the final standings of the four-team Trinity League. The Lancers beat Mater Dei twice during the regular season, 3-1 and 4-0.

The difference in Saturday’s game?

“We definitely brought the intensity this time,” Kim said. “We worked together as a team. We truly came together in this moment.”

Clean shots at the goal were rare during regulation and through the overtime periods. No player had the ball for long before an opposing player arrived to contest possession. Both goalkeepers, Orange Lutheran freshman Capri Cuneo and Mater Dei senior Kennedy Briseno, made big saves.

Perhaps the closest either team came to scoring in regulation was when Orange Lutheran sophomore Charlotte Kamansky made a great try at the lower left corner but the ball rolled just wide of the mark.

When penalty-kick time arrived Mater Dei coach Matty West tabbed the freshman Hansen, who displayed outstanding speed and ball control all game, to take the first kick. West has been impressed all season by Hansen’s play and maturity.

“She wanted the first kick,” West said. “And she got it.”

Hansen rolled it to the right of the goaltender for the first OT goal. Ella Priest was the Mater Dei goalkeeper for penalty kicks and made a big save on the first Orange Lutheran PK. Labuschagne scored into the left side of the net for the Lancers. Brooklyn Vanderkallen scored Orange Lutheran’s first goal, Ross scored the third Monarchs goal and Eguia responded with the Lancers’ second goal.

Kim kicked her goal to give Mater Dei a 4-2 advantage, Kamansky then scored to make it 4-3 and after a Mater Dei miss Orange Lutheran’s Ava Harrison blasted the ball that had Priest beat but was high and over the crossbar, ending the game.

West said beating Orange Lutheran, after losing twice to the Lancers in league games, required a special effort.

“Orange Lutheran is very athletic and extremely well-coached,” West said. “I’m really impressed with our girls, their ability to face adversity and come back, and how they always believed we could get it done.

“We’ve had tough times that just made us tougher. It showed tonight.”

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