Penalty kick shootouts in soccer often come down to fractions of inches. A shooter can mis-kick the ball, a goalkeeper might miss a shot by a fingertip, or the ball might deflect off the post.
And in Wednesday's shootout between Mt. San Jacinto and San Bernardino Valley in the first round of the California Community College Athletic Association women's soccer playoffs, it was the distance that Eagles' goalkeeper Kimberly Estrada was off her line before Jacqueline Gonzalez took her penalty kick that sailed over the goal.
Given a second chance, Gonzalez buried the opportunity, giving San Bernardino Valley a 5-4 victory in the shootout, allowing the Wolverines to advance to the second round after a 1-1 draw.
Gonzalez's victorious goal came in the sixth round of the shootout. After both teams scored in the first three rounds, Estrada stopped SBVC's Grace Baeza in the fourth round to give the Eagles a 4-3 advantage going into the fifth round. But Bella Silva stopped America Chavez, allowing Asoralesi Rizo to tie the shootout. Silva again came up big in the first round of sudden death, going to her right to stop Alondra Pozos to set up the final drama.
The Eagles had taken a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half, after dominating play for most of the opening 45 minutes. In the third minute of stoppage time, Brooke Smith ended up with the ball in the middle of the field about 25 yards out. She fired a shot high that flew over Silva's outstretched arms and under the crossbar to give Mt. San Jacinto a 1-0 lead.
SBVC came out fired up for the second half, pressing for an equalizer. They finally found one in the 84th minute. A centering ball deflected off a MSJC defender to Melanie Bravo, who quickly pushed the ball back toward the goal, where Dianna Calleja poked the ball past MSJC starter Briseida Medina to tie the game.
Medina made six saves for the Eagles, while Silva made four for the Wolverines.
SBVC advances to Saturday's second round game against top-seeded Saddleback. That game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Saddleback College.