Foss' OT header lifts Moorpark to third straight Coastal Canyon League girls soccer title

Gianna Foss’ first goal of the season was worth the wait for the Moorpark High girls soccer team.

The tall forward headed in Alysa Diaz’s corner kick in the third minute of overtime to lift the Musketeers to the Coastal Canyon League championship with a 2-1 victory at Camarillo on the last day of the regular season Wednesday night.

Foss, who scored eight goals as a sophomore, had missed much of her junior season with a back injury before gradually returning during league play.

“I’ve been working up to this,” Foss said.

Second-place Moorpark (12-4, 7-1) needed to beat first-place Camarillo (9-4-1, 6-1-1) on the final day to retain the league title for the third straight season.

Camarillo had won the previous meeting between the two teams, also 2-1 in overtime, on Jan. 18.

“Very similar games,” Moorpark coach Mike Alexander said. “Their will and desire to win this game showed a lot. … There were a lot of things that happened, so I’m just proud of them.

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“They found a way to threepeat this year. A lot of people didn’t think they would do it and they found a way to get it done.”

Moorpark took the lead in the first half on Kamryn Beaver’s penalty kick in the 24th minute.

Camarillo pulled even, and went atop the live standings, when striker Aleiyah Schexnayder first won and then converted a penalty kick in the 58th minute.

The Scorpions were faced with the opportunity to play for a draw and clinch the league title. But Camarillo coach Bryan Monka was wearing of playing too defensively, considering the 20-minute overtime tacked onto tied matches in Coastal Canyon League play.

“I would have totally played it differently, absolutely,” Monka said. “But that’s the way the league is and that’s the way the playoffs are, too.”

In the end, Moorpark and Camarillo proved a near-even match for each other. Camarillo’s scoreless draw with Oak Park on Monday proved to be decisive.

“Mikey is always good at motivated his team and they did a good job,” Monka said of Moorpark. “They’re big and physical. We needed to match that and we just weren’t ready in the first half.”

Camarillo goalkeeper Jessie Heybl made a huge save on a Moorpark counterattack midway through the second half. Camarillo’s Cassidy Epstein rattled the Moorpark crossbar with a free kick late.

But Foss arrived with the league-winning goal shortly after Moorpark won a corner kick three minutes in to the extra sesson, rising above two Camarillo players to nod home at the far post.

“I knew it was maybe going back post and it did,” Foss said, “so I hit it in.”

Alexander knew he wasn’t going to have wait much longer for his talented forward to make an impact this season.

“I told her, ‘There’s going to be a moment when you’re going to find a way to get a goal for us in a big-time game,’ and she did it tonight,” Alexander said. “She came back from injury and now she’s leading us to a league title.”

Joe Curley covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Foss nods Moorpark to Coastal Canyon League girls soccer title