What you should know about finals of section’s high school girls soccer

It is not unusual to see TRAC rivals Clovis North and Buchanan battle it out for the CIF Central Section Girls Division I soccer championship.

After all, the two schools have each posted a 2-1 decision against the other in the last two section finals.

In another epic showdown Tuesday afternoon, Clovis North posted a 2-1 overtime victory over the visiting Buchanan squad.

Only this time it was for a spot in Friday’s section final against Liberty High of Bakersfield.

Clovis North senior Braedyn Kincaid slotted in a goal with 7 minutes left in the second, 10-minute overtime period to help the No. 2-seeded Broncos survive gusts of up to 25 mph, dust and Buchanan.

The reward is a road trip for a 6 p.m. match against top-seeded and undefeated (22-0) Liberty. The Patriots are ranked 21st in California.

“Just a typical Buchanan-Clovis North game,” said Clovis North head coach Nick Pappanduros. “It’s just a battle to the end, both teams are just fighting all the way from whistle to whistle.”

Buchanan, which owns a 2-0 TRAC win over the Broncos, drew blood first when senior forward Daisy Torres knocked in a rebound at the 28th minute.

That score held up until midway through the second half as the wind and dust picked up. A hand ball inside the box was whistled against Buchanan, and Clovis North senior Lexi Sweatt converted on the penalty kick to even the score.

Both teams had opportunities to break the 1-1 tie, with Clovis North misfiring on numerous shots while Buchanan failed to take advantage of a free kick inside the box when the Bronco goalkeeper illegally touched the ball.

“The wind was playing havoc in this game for both teams,” said Pappanduros. “It obviously helped us keep the pressure on them mostly in the second half.”

Clovis North, now 18-2-3 and ranked 28th in the state, scored both goals with the wind in its favor.

Pappanduros was concerned his players missed various opportunities to score.

“We just kept giving ourselves an opportunity,” he said. “When you keep the pressure on, anything can happen.”

If Clovis North wants to take the section title, it will have to get more out of its offense against a Liberty team that has 18 shutouts. Liberty defeated Redwood High of Visalia 1-0 in the other semifinal to hand the Rangers (20-1-2) their only loss.

Last year, Liberty was undefeated heading into the section playoffs until a 1-0 loss to Clovis North in the semifinals.

Other playoff games of note

The McLane High girls (16-13-1) are seeded first in Division IV, but must win a 2 p.m. home match Thursday against Desert High for a right to host the championship game against Rosamond High (14-12-1).

The semifinal match was postponed by bad weather.

McLane is led by senior Yadira Dominguez’s 34 goals and freshman Ashlee Salinas’ 28 goals.

Desert is led by freshman Camryn Freeman with 23 goals.

Both teams are on 4-game winning streaks.

In Division III, Kerman High will try to add a second consecutive section championship when it travels to Exeter for a 6 p.m. Friday match. Kerman (15-11-2, and seeded third) won last year’s Division IV title.

Exeter (21-3 and the top seed) was seeded first in the same division last year but bowed out in the quarterfinals.

The other matchups

Division II: No. 1 seed St. Joseph (23-2-1) hosts Centennial of Bakersfield (15-10-4) at 6 p.m. Friday.

Division IV: No. 3 seed Bishop Union (20-3-1) hosts Lompoc (13-11-1) at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Division V: Top-seeded Mira Monte of Bakersfield (24-2-3) hosts No. 3 seed Porterville High (13-10-2) at 6 p.m. Friday.