For the second time in three seasons, San Clemente has a chance be king of the mountain.
The Tritons scaled another foothold on Thursday with a 2-0 victory over La Costa Canyon in the final game of the season at San Clemente High.
With its semifinal victory, top-seeded San Clemente (32-2-1) advances to the Southern California Regional Championship on Saturday against third-seeded Pico Rivera El Rancho (28-2-1).
El Rancho advanced with a whopping 7-0 victory over seventh-seeded Ontario.
Dylan DiGiacomo made three saves in goal for San Clemente, giving the Tritons their 22nd shutout.
San Clemente continues to reach milestones in this epic season. Gage Zerboni scored his 31st goal of the season, breaking the school record. Zerboni struck shortly before halftime, in the 38th minute, off an assist from Bryce Kaminski. Zerboni had shared the school's single-season scoring record with Andy Martinez from the 2008 season.
La Costa Canyon continued to remain a play away from sending the match to overtime until the teams reached stoppage gime. At that point, Zerboni—who will continue his soccer career at UCLA—got an assist as Blayne Martinez scored.
The Martinez goal not only clinched the victory, it was also San Clemente's 100th goal of the season.
San Clemente, which won the Southern Section Division 1 championship over the weekend with a victory against Servite, also won the section and regional titles in 2011. The Tritons now have a chance to do it again.
The championship game will be played at Warren High in Downey on Saturday, 6 p.m.
