After traveling all day to Santa Barbara, the Poly Jackrabbits played almost the entire first round CIF playoff match up from behind.  But with elimination staring them in the face, it was the underclassman that stepped up.

Freshman Nikki Wadley netted the equalizer in extra time, and after two scoreless overtime periods, junior goaltender Celeste Moncure made two penalty kick saves before freshman Therese Perales put home the winner.

Santa Barbara used the huge home crowd momentum and hugh pressure to get quality goes at goal early. Forward Briana Lopez sent a hard shot into the box and another Don scored on the rebound.

“They only had like four quality shots on goal, so it was frustrating,” said Poly head coach Teri Collins.  “In the second half we responded better to the physical play… their goalie played amazing and stopped everything we threw at her.”

Well, almost everything.  As the extra time and the season slowly ticked away, senior Jazmine Rhodes sent in a volley from the left side.  Celeste Dominguez charged hard at the keeper and the ball bounced off her hands and over her head.  Wadley came in from the back post and put it home to send the game to overtime.

Poly had the better run of chances in the overtime periods, but the two teams went to penalty kicks to decide it, and Moncure opened the PKs with a huge save on Lopez.  The two teams stayed even until the seventh shooter when Moncure made her second save of the day, and Perales ended it on the next strike of the ball.

The Jackrabbits will come home on Wednesday to play the second round game against a good Capo Valley team at 3pm.