Soccer - CIF Sac-Joaquin

“How can I be more dangerous?” Roseville girls soccer coach Todd DeCarlo asked his players that question more than once during their halftime talk Saturday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship game against Oakdale at Cosumnes River College. "How can I be more dangerous?" The game was scoreless at the break, but while Roseville might have had a little bit better of the play, DeCarlo wanted more. He wanted each player to ask themselves how they can be more dangerous as an attacking offensive player. Nine minutes into the second half, senior team captain and forward Dani Ghibanescu figured out a way to be more dangerous. “It was unexpected,” Ghibanescu said of her goal. “I think Kaylee Fischer passed me the ball and I turned and looked at the goalie and I saw that she was closer to me so I went for the far post and it went in.” Ghibanescu’s shot was from about 25 yards out and sailed over the Oakdale keeper’s head and into the back of the net perfectly. That was the only goal Roseville needed in a 1-0 victory. “I was so excited,” Ghibanescu said. “It’s exciting because it’s my senior year. It’s amazing; I don’t even believe it because in previous years we barely made the playoffs and now we’ve won all four games. It’s exciting.” While Oakdale (17-10-2) had some chances, Roseville’s team defense pretty much shut them down and goalie Izzy Duink kept every ball out of the net. Her defense, mainly defenders Peyton Rochholz, Addy Espley, Halee Jones and Liz Browning, kept the Oakdale scoring chances to a minimum. That, of course, should come as no surprise, as incredibly, the Tigers have allowed only two goals in 18 games this season. “I have a lot of help from my defense,” Duink said. “It feels great to have only allowed two goals. It also feels great to win. We’ve worked hard all three years and we’re finally here and we finally did it. “This team is really special. We’ve all worked hard together and grinded together. Most of us have been together for three seasons now and it’s finally our time.” Said Ghibanescu, “The difference this year is that we came together as a team. We’ve got 11 seniors this year and we’ve all been on the team working together for a while now. We do really good on set plays and we all understand each other really well. We know the runs we’re going to make and (Kaylee) was ready and she knew I was going to be there.” DeCarlo agreed on the team’s strength. “Defense, set pieces and probably goalkeeping are our strengths,” DeCarlo said. “Team defending; and it hasn’t been just one or two girls, everyone’s battled and worked to defend well as a team. “It feels great to win. I’m proud for the school and proud for the girls.” Roseville (14-0-4) was bumped up to Division II for the CIF NorCal Regional Tournament and earned the No. 2 seed. The Tigers will host No. 7 St. Ignatius College Prep (10-7-5) of San Francisco at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

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Roseville girls earn section soccer title in 1-0 win over Oakdale