Guadalajara players and staff (pictured) celebrate with the trophy after prevailing over visiting Pachuca to win the Liga MX Women’s Apertura title on November 24, 2017, in Zapopoan, Mexico. (Photo: Mexsport)
ZAPOPAN, Mexico – Guadalajara was crowned the first-ever Liga MX Women’s champion on the strength of a 3-0 over visiting Pachuca in the second leg of the 2017 Apertura final on Friday before a record crowd of 32,466 at the Estadio Chivas.
It was a historic, hard-fought comeback by Chivas, which lost the first leg, 2-0, on November 20.
Arlett Tovar scored the first of her two goals to give the host a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute, when she nodded home from seven yards off Tania Morales’ perfectly delivered left-sided corner kick.
In the 56th minute, the duo combined again to make it 2-0. On this occasion, Morales took a corner from the right that connected with the 20-year-old Tovar’s head from three yards.
The rally was completed in the 68th minute as Brenda Viramontes slipped a pass into the box for Norma Duarte Palafox, who – in a one-v-one situation with goalkeeper Alejandria Godinez – maintained composure and hit the back of the net from 12-yards out with her right foot.
Pachuca searched relentlessly for a goal, but the Guadalajara defense – which conceded a league second-best 10 goals in 14 regular-season games – stood firm.
