Three from Empire in NCAA Div. 2 soccer final

By PHIL BARBER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

UC San Diego defeated Grand Valley State 2-1 in an NCAA Division 2 women’s soccer semifinal at Evans, Ga., sending three Redwood Empire products to the championship round.

Hayley Johnson of Maria Carrillo is a four-year starter for the Tritons, and Montgomery graduates Casey Parisi and Christen Chalmers also are on the team. UCSD faces West Florida at noon Saturday for the title.

The fifth-ranked Tritons (17-2-4) got second-half goals from sophomores Cassie Callahan and Izzy Pozurama and held on to beat the No. 3 Lakers (20-2-3) at Blanchard Woods Park, avenging a 4-0 loss to Grand Valley State in the 2010 D2 championship game. UCSD narrowly missed two goals off of corner kicks from Johnson.