PREP SOCCER PLAYOFFS: Sutter, Colusa advance to title games

The Sutter High girls soccer team blanked Live Oak 5-0 at home on Tuesday to earn a spot in the Northern Section Division II championship game.

The Huskies, who improved to 18-3-1, will be put to the test at home against Orland (16-5-2) on Saturday.

Sutter tied Orland 3-3 and beat them 5-1 in matches earlier this season.

Leading the way for Sutter on Tuesday was Erika Linch, who finished with three goals and an assist, while Jayden Garcia and Hailey Fear each added a goal.

Garcia, Kelsey Graham and Jenna Lewis each dished out assists, while goalkeeper Devan Reische had six saves in the shutout.

Colusa 2, Durham 1

Rebecca Velasquez broke open a scoreless deadlock by scoring two second-half goals to lift the RedHawks past the Trojans and into Saturday's Division III championship game.

Velasquez scored the game's first goal in the opening minute of the second half off an assist from Kaytlin Lorenzini and added another 21 minutes later by knocking in a rebound. "Our defense was super and we played really good at midfield," Colusa coach Randy Watt said.

Watt praised the play of Lorenzini and Stephanie Munguia at midfield and the defensive play of Nancy Lopez, Alexia Vargas, Aimee Galvez and Yajaira Cruz. Goalkeeper Ashleigh Biggs allowed one goal to notch the win.

The top-seeded RedHawks (10-3-1) will look to win their third straight D-III title when they host Williams at noon on Saturday for the championship.

This will be the third consecutive season these two teams have met in the title game.