CCT/WCT NCS girls soccer

It's been 14 years since the Concord High School girls soccer team last played in the North Coast Section playoffs. So pardon the Minutemen for trying to make this thing last.

Buoyed by a second-half goal by Heather Kurpieski and a little luck at the defensive end, Concord advanced to its first NCS championship match with a 1-0 win over Dublin on Wednesday in a 2A East Bay semifinal at Foothill High in Pleasanton.

The sixth-seeded Minutemen will play at No. 1 Bishop O'Dowd in the championship on Saturday at noon.

"Our goal at the start of the season was just to make NCS," said Kurpieski, who scored in the 58th minute off an assist from Megan Ring. "Once we got in, we all believed that we could go to the final."

Dublin (11-11-4) didn't mount much of an attack in the second half until there was less than three minutes left.

Concord goalkeeper Angela Haagensen tried to grab a loose ball that was 15 yards in front of her net, but Dublin's Amanda Phillips flicked the ball past her toward the right side of the open goal.

Phillips caught up to the ball and from a sharp angle let the shot go. But the ball went off the right post, and Minutemen defender Jessica Franz was there to clear it right away.

"I just tried to hustle back and make a play," Franz said. "I wasn't sure what was going to happen."

The loss was another chapter in Dublin's frustrating postseason history. Before this season, the Gaels had won three straight Diablo Foothill Athletic League titles and were considered among the favorites to win North Coast. But they lost in the semifinals each time.

This season, Dublin finished third in the DFAL but earned the No. 2 seed for the 2A playoffs. Still, it couldn't get over the semifinal hurdle.

"We sat on our heels in the second half and we started playing Concord's game," Dublin coach Ron Krumbach said. "It's kind of the way the season's gone for us. We've had opportunities to score, we just haven't been able to capitalize."

While Dublin has been among the favorites in recent seasons, few people could have foreseen Concord (13-6-7) in this position. The Minutemen combined for just 13 wins in the DFAL the last four seasons.

"Once the playoffs started, we felt we could get to this point," Concord coach Damian Scott said. "We're playing with a lot of confidence right now. We just need to keep it up."

Bishop O'Dowd 3, Acalanes 0: Marisa Boge scored her second hat trick in two matches to lead the top-seeded Dragons (17-2-4) to their third NCS 2A final in five seasons.

Acalanes (11-10-2) did well to stifle the Dragons in a scoreless first half, but O'Dowd -- playing under portable lights on its home field -- came to life in the second.

Boge, who also had a hat trick in a 5-4 quarterfinal win over Campolindo on Feb. 19, got the scoring started at 49 minutes, 28 seconds.

Her next two goals came within the following nine minutes, as the Dragons advanced to play at home against Concord on Saturday at noon.