The San Clemente girls soccer team will return to the CIF-SS Division I finals to defend the title they won last season.

The Tritons advanced by beating El Toro, 2-0, on Tuesday afternoon at El Toro High in the semifinal round.

The victory was the seventh in a row for the Tritons (25-4-1) and unplugged the Chargers’ 11-game win streak and championship hopes.

“[We were] patient in our defense and patient in our attack and it eventually opened up our goals for us,” said Triton coach Stacey Finnerty.

The Tritons will take on Los Alamitos on Friday or Saturday in the championship match.

The first half featured near-misses for both teams, including an offsides call on El Toro that took a goal by sophomore Megan Daniels off the scoreboard. The two teams went into halftime in a scoreless tie.

“San Clemente is experienced in these big games,” said Chargers coach Sarah Yee. “For our girls, it’s our first time, players and coaches, in the (semifinals). Unfortunately, I think our nerves got the best of us at times.”

– MATT GRAGER, Special to OCVarsity.com

>A complete game story will be published shortly on OCVarsity.com<

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