Golden West's Marko Madaras, a freshman, scored in the first three-minute overtime period, and Paul Miernicki and Spencer Van Horne had two key steals in the final minute as the Rustlers downed Long Beach City, 9-8, in overtime in the finals of the Southern California Championship match at Riverside City College. Both teams will advance to the CCCAA State Championship tournament next weekend at Cerritos College. Golden West, the south's top seed, figures to be the No. 1 seed when pairings are announced tomorrow for the state finals. The regional title is the 13th consecutive for Golden West, who has won four state titles since 2001, and the 10th straight for current Rustler head coach Scott Taylor. This was the third meeting between these two programs and it didn't disappoint as Long Beach (23-3) jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but watched as the Rustlers ran off three straight goals, tying the match at 4-4 after the first quarter. The match remained tied at halftime, 6-6, after the third, 7-7 and at the regulation, 8-8. In the first overtime period, with Golden West on the attack, Madaras received the ball out front of the cage and skipped a shot under the arm Long Beach goalie Vince Ward.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Team                                1    2    3    4    OT    OT     Final

#1 Golden West                4    2     1       1     1    0              9

#2 Long Beach                 4     2     1       1     0   0              8

 

Golden West Goal Scorers: Marko Madaras 5, Kevin Oliveira 3, Miso Halac

Long Beach Goal Scorers: Nemanja Jokanovic 2, Chase McColl 2, Bradley Adamson, Eric Doyle, Tristan Winterhalter, Zlatko Vlasic,

 

Goalie Saves, Golden West: Taylor Lapin – 9

Goalie Saves, Long Beach: Vince Ward – 5