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A tight race for the Big 4 championship in girls soccer will go down to the final day of the regular season after Eureka held on for a 3-2 win over Fortuna on Saturday.

The win for the Loggers leaves both contenders with identical 5-2-1 records in conference play with one game remaining each.

On Wednesday, Fortuna plays at Arcata and Eureka hosts McKinleyville.

Also on Saturday, in the Little 4 South Fork and Ferndale tied 0-0 and the Del Norte girls tied St. Bernard’s 1-1 to secure the conference championship outright.

Playing in their most important game of the season, the Eureka girls took control of their showdown against Fortuna with a pair of first-half goals and they carried a 2-0 advantage into the break.

Destyni Chase opened the scoring for the visitors, before Angelina Conant doubled the advantage on a free kick that head coach Melania Valdez described as an “absolutely beautiful goal.”

The Huskies stepped up their game in the second half and cut the deficit in half on a Jozalyn Dahl goal, but just moments later Grecia Ortiz stretched the Eureka lead back out to two.

Jocelyn Marquez-Ortega added a late goal for the Huskkies, but the Loggers were able to hold on for the win.

“That was probably our bets game of the season,” added Valdez, whose players were up for the challenge. “Our possession was on point and our communication was up.”

Ortiz, according to her coach, played her best game of the season, while the impressive midfield trio of Conant, Lorena Hernandez and Kyla Benzinger had an outstanding day controlling possession and feeding their teammates.

Both wingers, Chase and Natalie Wyllie, also made big contributions in the win.

The Huskies grew into the game but a poor first half proved costly.

“We woke up in the second half, but it was a little too late,” Fortuna head coach Arnulfo Aguirre said. “In the first half we weren’t good. We were walking to the ball and letting them do whatever they wanted.

“In the second half we came out like we wanted to play and controlled the tempo.”

South Fork and Ferndale, meanwhile, shared the points in their Little 4 game.

The Cubs turned in a much improved performance after a disappointing display at Del Norte earlier in the week.

“We played really well,” head coach Ann Constantino said. “As disorganized as we were up in Del Norte on Wednesday, our back line was really solid today.”

The longtime South Fork coach also praised the performance of the Ferndale girls, who have been playing shorthanded all season because of injuries and battled hard once again on Saturday with just nine players.

“I’ve got to hand it to Ferndale, they were very strong and fast,” she said. “I cannot say enough about them. What they are able to do with only eight field players is really amazing.”

Midfielder Genesis Medrano continued to shine for the Cubs, while the entire back line of Aubrey Young, Molly Perkins, Kiana Savage and Elizabeth Chivington all worked well together to help goalkeeper Aurora Galaz record the clean sheet.

“Everybody on the back line were super cohesive and really strong today,” Constantino said. 

Zoe Bignon also impressed on the wing for South Fork, while sweeper Kamea Hawkins made a pivotal stop when she cleared a ball off the goal line off of a corner kick.