POMONA, Calif. - UC San Diego continued a remarkable late-season progression in scoring twice early and achieving a well-earned 3-0 victory over No. 10 Sonoma State in the semifinal round of the 2015 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women's Soccer Tournament Friday afternoon at Kellogg Field on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.

A fifth straight win and seventh over its last eight, moved fourth-seeded UCSD to 14-5-1 overall. Top-seeded regular-season champion Sonoma State, unbeaten over its last 15 heading in at 12-0-3 with three successive wins, fell to 13-2-3. The Seawolves had allowed just five goals all year, and just three through their 15-game stretch which included an unbeaten 10-0-2 run through CCAA play. Remarkably, SSU had given up a solitary score since Sept. 23, only to concede twice to the young and ever-improving Tritons in just over 16 minutes, and three on the afternoon.

UCSD advances to Sunday's title game against sixth seed Stanislaus State, an upset 1-0 victor over No. 2 seed Chico State in the first semifinal. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. at Kellogg Field in Pomona, with the CCAA's automatic berth in the 2015 NCAA Championship at stake. The Tritons beat the Warriors, 1-0, in the regular season.

Redshirt junior winger and first-year co-captain Kiera Bocchino bookended an opportunistic Katie O'Laughlin(Carlsbad/Pacific Ridge School) strike as the Tritons built their big advantage before 46 minutes were up. In a week in which a game and a half over the span of 19 hours was needed to get a first-round match done and dusted, head coach Brian McManus was able to rest key players at the end for Friday’s tilt. Mary Reilly (Chula Vista/Hilltop HS), the CCAA Freshman of the Year, for instance, needed to play just 45 minutes and called it a day with 26 and a half minutes remaining.

The teams traded left-footed efforts that generated comfortable saves by the opposing goalkeeper over the first 10 minutes, both from All-CCAA First Team selections first in Sonoma State senior midfielder Margi Osmundson, and moments later from Reilly, the phenom cutting her defender to the inside on the right before getting her shot off toward the near post.

In the 13th minute, the Tritons were on the board. Jordyn McNutt (San Diego/University City HS) crossed from the right and the ball found its way to a wide-open Bocchino at the far post. She banged home her third on the year into the right netting. It was McNutt's league-best ninth assist.

At 16:10, it was 2-0. Bocchino crossed from the left, and one Sonoma State defender cleared it right off of her own teammate, the ball falling into the path of O'Laughlin. That was a bad spot as far as the Seawolves were concerned, as the sophomore forward had little trouble sliding her shot into the bottom right corner past the helpless SSU goalie. O'Laughlin was also named to the All-CCAA First Team alongside her strike partner, Reilly, on Thursday night. The goal joined the duo atop the conference chart at 10 apiece.

In the 19th, Sonoma State almost pulled one back, but Kelcie Brodsky went down to make a tough save from another left-footed attempt by Osmundson from the top of the penalty area.

A mere 51 seconds into the second half, the Tritons nabbed a clinching third. Elisa Martinez sent a ball over the top toward the right side, Reilly ran onto it and crossed to the far post, and Bocchino headed it back across toward the right post. The ball bounced and went in despite a touch by Seawolf goalie Ashley Luis.

A two-shot Seawolf flurry from Ale Gonzalez turned up nothing in the 54th, the latter left-footed attempt from point-blank range parried away by Brodsky as the Triton senior dove to her right.

Each team was denied by the woodwork late. First Megumi Barber (San Diego/Mt. Carmel HS) blasted a one-timer off a pass from fellow freshman Avery Schulhofer in the 77th minute, and had it hit right where the left post meets the bar. A little over three minutes later, CCAA Defensive Player of the Year Carolyn Greco found the bar with a header.

Brodsky finished with 10 saves for UCSD, keeping her ninth shutout of 2015 and 28th for her career. Luis, the All-CCAA First Team selection at the position as a sophomore, produced three stops for the Seawolves.

On Sunday, the Tritons will play for their record ninth CCAA tournament banner. They were last in the final in 2012, getting past Sonoma State via penalty-kick tiebreaker following a 1-1 draw in Carson.

Sonoma State had won the regular-season meeting between the sides, 1-0, in Rohnert Park back on Oct. 18, marking just the second-ever success in the all-time series for the Seawolves. UCSD holds a 17-2-3 advantage.

Triton Notes: UCSD is now 16-4-4 all-time in 15 appearances at the CCAA Tournament ... The Tritons remained an unbeaten 3-0-1 against Sonoma State in CCAA tourney games, the three previous meetings all coming in Carson ... Aimee Ellis saw her first action since Oct. 18, while fellow sophomore Makenzie Brito made her fifth straight start at right back in Ellis' injury absence ... Kelcie Brodsky and the Triton defense now have six shutouts over the last eight games ... Brodsky reached double figures in saves for a single contest for the third time this year and fourth in her career, with her total stops now numbering a program-record 382 ... Friday marked the third straight meeting between the teams in which SSU was ranked in the top 15 nationally, with the Tritons now winning two ... UCSD was out-shot for the second straight game, 15-8, but has managed to out-score its two tourney opponents, 7-1 … In fact, the Tritons have out-scored opponents 15-1 during their five-game win streak ... UCSD's current win streak is its longest since taking seven in a row to begin the 2012 season ... Former UCSD standouts Sarah (McTigue) Frontiera, Annie Wethe and Ellen Wilson were at Kellogg Field for Friday's match.

#TritonsRising

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