FRESNO, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay played Salem University for the WWPA Championship in Fresno on Sunday. The game went into a fourth overtime, with a golden goal gave the Tigers an 11-10 sudden victory for the conference title.
In the first quarter, the Pioneers scored first on a Luna Sarmiento shot with 5:29 left in the quarter. The Tigers tied the game with 5:01 left in the quarter on a Margherita Garibbo shot. The Pioneers scored the next two goals – Payton Bosque with 3:49 left and Auriel Bill with 3:14 left. Taeghen Hack would score for the Tigers to trim the Pioneers' lead to 3-2, but Bill would score again with 1:45 left in the quarter as the Pioneers led 4-2 after the first quarter.
Salem scored first on a Chloe Woodbine shot to trim the Pioneers' lead to 4-3 with 6:43 left in the quarter. Nineteen seconds later, Mosqueda scored to give the Pioneers a 5-3 lead. The Tigers tied the game on a pair Woodbine goals; the second coming with 4:21 left in the half. Tied at 5-5, Cal State East Bay regained the lead with 3:59 left on a Mosqueda shot. The Pioneers led 6-5 at halftime.
The Tigers netted the first two goals of the third quarter, but the Pioneers would tie the game with 0:38 left on a Bill strike. The game was tied 7-7 at the end of three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the Pioneers struck first in the quarter on a Bosque strike with 7:13 left. The Tigers would counter on an Annefleur ten Bloemendal penalty shot with 6:58 left. Mosqueda converted a penalty shot with 5:21 left to give the Pioneers a 9-8 lead. The Tigers tied the game with one second left on a Woodbine power play goal to force overtime.
Both teams traded goals in the overtime sessions, but with no winner determined, the match went into sudden victory.
The two teams played the first sudden victory frame scoreless but in the second sudden victory frame, the Salem scored on a Hack penalty shot to give the Tigers the 11-10 victory to take the WWPA Championship.
Salem outshot Cal State East Bay 41-39 and was 3-9 on the power play compared to the Pioneers' 1-3.
Cal State East Bay head coach
Lisa Cooper following the championship match:
"That was a great game that just didn't go our way in the end. It is rough to go out on the losing end of a game like that. In my heart we are champions. This team portrayed an amazing team culture and are everything I could ask for in a team. I am going to miss my eight seniors dearly and thank them for teaching the youth of our program how to be great teammates."
The Pioneers finish the 2022 season with a 15-15 overall record.
