Facing a team that had defeated them 2-0 earlier in the season, the Fresno City College women’s soccer team knew they had a challenge heading into their NorCal Regional third round game against American River.

FCC’s Bianca Arteaga provided the lone goal as the Rams beat the Beavers 1-0 and secured a trip to the state semifinals this Friday in Santa Clarita.

Arteaga described the play that allowed her to get behind the last defenders and put the ball in the net.

“Susie [Perez] crossed the ball and the keeper missed it,” said Arteaga. “I had to score.”

Arteaga may have been at loss for words after the game, but Fresno City College head coach

Oliver Germond explained that Arteaga’s play was the culmination of what he has been preaching to his team all year.

“If you work hard, you’re going to get rewarded and this game is an exact example of that,” Germond said. “Bianca doesn’t get a lot of playing time and she did her job and was able to score a goal.”

After braving the elements in their second round game against City College of San Francisco on Nov. 23, the Rams found themselves playing in similar conditions against American River.

The game was close the entire first half with each team battling for field position while opportunities arose for each to get on the board early.

American River had what appeared to be the first goal wiped away by the defense of Fresno City on a corner kick.

The Beavers sent a shot to the Rams goal that went toward the back post and got lost in a sea of confusion between the two teams. The ball ended up sitting on the white line, just inches from crossing and being counted as a goal for American River before the Rams were able to clear it out and avoid disaster.

Fresno City assistant coach Drew Mattos described the chaos in front of the goal.

“I thought that ball was in,” Mattos said. “I was getting ready to mark that a goal for them in the book and then I see the ball get cleared out. I think Sam’s [Hernandez] foot got in the way because she came running up from the back post to get the ball.”

The Rams had a close call of their own toward the end of the first half. Their offense was pushing deep into American River territory and a shot went just wide on the far side of the goal in what many fans in the crowd thought was a sure goal.

The seesaw battle continued in the second half as both teams kept the pressure on offensively as their defenses each responded to the challenge of the others. The game changing moment came in the 73rd minute of the second half.

Fresno City was once again pressing deep into American River as Susel Perez was dribbling the ball on the right side of the field heading toward the west goal. Perez sent a cross in the direction of Arteaga and Beavers goalie Summer Ikeda made a play to grab the ball before Arteaga could reach it.

The ball seemed to take an extra bounce on the slick muddy surface near the goal box before Ikeda could secure the ball firmly and it skipped through her hands behind her where Arteaga was all alone.

The Rams bench erupted in celebration as the ball hit the back of the net to take the 1-0 lead.

American River wasn’t done threatening the Rams defense. The Beavers chance to score the equalizer came in the 90th minute when there was once again chaos in front of the Rams goal.

Rams goalie Tegan Coltra made another unbelievable save in the postseason as she stopped American

River’s last realistic threat to tie the game up.

“I lost her in the pile of players near the goal,” said Mattos. “I then heard a loud cheer from the crowd and thought ‘that’s too loud to be cheers for an American River goal’. Then I saw Tegan come out with the ball and I was excited.”

After the game was over, Germond explained the type of emotions that he was feeling as the Arteaga play developed.

“I was thinking ‘please don’t miss it’,” Germond said with a chuckle. “I almost passed out because I was so excited.”

With the Rams and Beavers having met the past five seasons in the playoffs, American River head coach Paul Arellanes explained that there wasn’t a whole lot of scouting he had to do in order to prepare his team for the match.

“I think we [Germond and Arellanes] could tell you to what’s going to happen in warm-ups and how each team is going to play,” Arellanes said. “It’s two evenly matched teams and they got a break and we had a chance at the end, but couldn’t put it away.”

This trip will have more meaning to Germond because this year’s tournament is being held at College of the Canyons; the school where he started coaching junior college soccer as an assistant coach.

“It’s a great feeling,” Germond said. “That’s what you work for. We want to be in the final four every year. We’ve been in this third round game for five or six years now so it’s good to make it [to the final four]”

The Rams will travel to Santa Clarita for the state semifinals this Friday.

They will face the No. 1 seed from the south San Bernardino Valley at 7 p.m. at College of the Canyons. The winner of that match will then go on to play the winner of the Santa Rosa and Cerritos game for the state championship on Sunday.