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HUNTINGTON BEACH — Edison’s Sadie Olivares dribbled at the first defender, cut left and pushed toward the Huntington Beach net early in the second, sudden-death overtime period.
The junior midfielder attacked the next defender almost the same way and drew a free kick just outside the penalty box to set the stage for a dramatic ending Wednesday night.
Call it a golden ending.
Olivares curved a right-footed, free kick over the defense and into the upper, left corner in the 93rd minute as Edison’s girls soccer team stunned Huntington Beach 2-1 for its first overall Sunset League title since 2017.
Huntington Beach (13-1-5, 5-1-1), ranked No. 4 in Orange County, entered the Sunset League tournament championship match without a loss all winter and a 21-20 lead in league points.
But with four points slated to the tournament winner, No. 8 Edison (11-7-3, 6-1-0) played spoiler by continuing to push forward.
“We’re very happy to hand them their first L. It’s a rivalry to us,” said Olivares, whose squad lost 2-1 in Huntington Beach earlier in league.
“I knew it was going to come down to a free kick or a corner (kick). It was golden goal, so it just came down to that kick. Lots of emotions.”
On the free kick, Olivares scored after teammate Ayla Khoshkbariie ran toward the ball to fake a shot. Edison’s players swarmed Olivares to celebrate the goal in the middle of the pitch.
The Chargers not only claimed the league title but recovered after Huntington Beach forced overtime with a goal by Bailey Oliver in the 78th minute.
Edison also punctuated a tournament run that included a victory in penalty kicks against Newport Harbor in the semifiinals on Monday.
“Lot of grit,” veteran Edison coach Kerry Crooks said of her team. “They had to fight through two games like (this) this week. All hearts, all guts. (I’m) super proud of them. … They love to compete.”
After a scoreless first half, Edison took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Katelyn Chantha in the 67th minute on a long throw-in by defender Aubrey Dollins into the penalty box.
Like Olivares, Chantha pushed for the goal. As the throw-in narrowly sailed over her head, Chantha pounced on the rebound to unleashed a quick shot for the goal.
“She just kept going,” Olivares said of Chantha, a senior and one of her teammates from flag football. “We have a lot of hard workers on our team. … We just kept going at them.”
Edison’s ability to keep the ball in Huntington Beach’s end also featured pressure from sophomore forward Marissa Devine.
The Chargers’ pressure also received major support from goalie Tatum Trout. In the 12th minute after a corner kick, the senior soared to narrowly knock an outside shot by Huntington Beach over the crossbar.
Edison also received strong play from a backline that included Miki Flynn, Dollins, Jaylen Maroney and Khoshkbariie among others.
Oliver continued her scoring surge as the forward replacing Santa Clara-bound Solana Van Enoo, who graduated early.
“She’s been phenomenal the second half of the season,” Huntington Beach coach Raul Ruiz said. “We were resilient. We believed we could tie it, and the girls showed poise and heart. That’s the most important thing.”
The CIF-SS playoff parings will be released Saturday at 10 a.m.