Sandra Day O’Connor is back in the semifinals, where it’ll face the same opponent it played in last year’s semifinals, Hamilton.

The Division I boys soccer semifinal matchup is the same, but it’s been anything but a similar season for O’Connor. Unlike last year, O’Connor was picked as the early season favorite this season, but injuries slowed the team down a bit in the regular season.

And disciplinary actions kept some of its talent out of the first two rounds of the playoffs, including Saturday’s quarterfinal match against No. 1 seed Alhambra. But No. 9 O’Connor still had enough speed, skill and defensive composure to help it subdue Alhambra, 2-1.

O’Connor jumped on Alhambra quickly, getting behind Alhambra’s defense to set up both its goals. Freshman Brockton Trice took a pass from sophomore midfielder George Ekdahl, and Trice took care of the rest for O’Connor’s first goal, heading the ball down to help him get in front of a defender.

Once Trice saw Alhambra’s goalkeeper come out, Trice lofted the ball over the goalkeeper in the 6^th minute. Nearly six minutes later, it was O’Connor’s star’s turn to beat Alhambra’s defense.

Junior Musa Morris isn’t tall, but the University of Portland-commit is fast and good on the ball. He got a step on his defender on the right side of the field and put enough power into his right-footed shot to get it just by the goalkeeper for O’Connor’s second goal.

Alhambra reached the D-I state semifinals last year and was 18-0 heading into Saturday’s home match, so there’s no way this team was about to collapse. And with about 14 minutes remaining in the first half, Alhambra received a jolt of energy off an electric shot by a kid from Cameroon, Aser Kedjebe. 

Kedjebe's run at goal from the right side was great to set up his high scoring shot. O’Connor’s defense expected him to pass on the play, but he turned and fired, striking the far post.

“He put it where he needed to put it,” Alhambra coach Zachary Zamenski said. “Amazing.”

In the second half, O’Connor took a defensive approach, which almost backfired.

Alhambra had three good looks glance away in the second half, first when an O’Connor defender blocked a free kick.

Marcel Ruzan then made a fantastic save off another attempt, and the third opportunity went off the post. Saturday’s loss was tough for an Alhambra team that grew to like each other as family members.

“We’ve got some special players,” said Zamenski, who is losing 13 seniors. “Every team is special, but this team … it hurts.”

For O’Connor, it is trying to avoid a similar ending to its season.

Hamilton rallied from a 3-2 lead late in the game last year to beat O’Connor 4-3 in the semifinals.

“What I like about this teams is that they aren’t the most talented, but they’ll work and listen and are very coachable,” O’Connor coach Harry Demos said.