CHICO — For the 16th consecutive home game, the Pleasant Valley Vikings did not allow their opponents to score a goal. However, for only the second time in that streak, which goes back to February 15, 2023, the Vikings lost.
On Tuesday night, the Vikings lost in penalty kicks to visiting Rio Americano in the first round of the Norcal Division III regional playoffs. Pleasant Valley suffered a similar fate last year, losing in the Division II Norcal regional playoff opener to Maria Carrillo following a scoreless game.
After Tuesday’s match, PV coach Brenna Valencia said her team battled through the entire 95 minutes of soccer prior to the penalty kicks.
“We battled and we played hard to the end,” she said. “I told the girls that sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce our way.”
But sometimes the ball did bounce the Vikings’ way as several Raider shots either flew and rolled harmlessly wide. When the ball didn’t, PV’s senior goalkeeper, Kennedy Arntzen, was there to make the stop.
“Kennedy stepped up and made some huge saves for us, especially late in the game and in overtime,” Valencia said.
In fact, twice in the final three minutes and 40 seconds of overtime, the Fresno State-bound goalkeeper made great saves to turn Rio Americano away and keep the Vikings in it.
Valencia noted that it wasn’t just the back four that played defense; it was a collective 11-player effort when the Raiders possessed the ball.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, as tough as they were playing team defense, they never really got good looks at the Raiders’ goal to test sophomore goalkeeper Mikayla Chacon.
“I think they cleaned up a little bit more in their defensive third that we didn’t get any really good looks,” Valencia said. “But that didn’t stop us from trying. I think we put some pressure on them, and their back line was fighting pretty hard, being really tired at the end.”
But once it got to the end, it became time to settle the game with penalty kicks. Arntzen was good in that session, stopping two shots, one with a diving attempt that pushed the ball wide and gave the Vikings, who shot second in the penalty kick phase, something they took advantage of.
Unfortunately, after that 2-1 lead, the Vikings never made another PK and ended up losing the shootout 3-2.
Not only was it Pleasant Valley’s second consecutive overtime loss in the Norcal Regional, but it was also the fifth overtime playoff game the program has played since the 2020 season and the seventh game this season that the Vikings played to a scoreless tie.
For Valencia, those numbers say something about the kind of program that the Vikings have.
“It shows how hard we fight,” she said. “We don’t give up, even though they had more looks on goal. Maybe they should have finished it in regular time, but it shows that we have grit and intensity that we don’t give up and will continue fighting to the end.”
