SAN DIEGO -- A year ago this week, Cathedral Catholic's boys soccer team traveled to the CIF Southern California Division II regional title game and suffered a one-goal loss that they'd rather forget.

That defeat, and the knowledge that they missed a chance to achieve something monumental, percolated in the Dons' collective subconscious throughout the entire spring, summer and fall. An entire year of suffering later, they'll get another chance.

The top-seeded Dons raced to a 4-1 victory Thursday over fourth-seeded Rio Mesa of Oxnard in the regional semifinals, setting up a return engagement in the final. They'll play No. 2 seed St. Francis of La Canada, a 3-1 winner over No. 3 seed Valhalla, Saturday at Warren High in Downey.

There is no state championship in boys soccer.

"We thought we had it last year," said midfielder Josh Cintas, who contributed a goal and an assist to Thursday's victory. "We just didn't play that great of a game, but we're back this year, and we're hoping we can win it."

If the Dons (20-6-3) play like they did in the semifinal, they'll be difficult to stop Saturday. They possessed the ball better than Rio Mesa (16-9-3), beat the Spartans to nearly every 50-50 ball, and perhaps most important, proved to be excellent finishers.

After numerous early chances, Cathedral finally got on the scoreboard in the 31st minute when Sal Giacalone fed Cintas on a run up the left side and Cintas buried the ball inside the left post.

The Dons added a key second tally before halftime. Kian Mogharabi was fouled inside the box in the 37th minute, and he drilled a laser of a penalty kick past Rio Mesa keeper Christian Magana.

Giacalone and Cintas collaborated with Mogharabi on a 59th minute goal off a free kick, as Giacalone flipped the ball in the air behind him, Cintas lobbed it over the wall toward the left post and Cintas ran on to deflect it across the mouth of the goal.

Rio Mesa finally got a goal, in the game's final two minutes, from star forward Jerry Ponce, though Cathedral quickly answered with a score from Anthony Amato on a header.

"The difference was us being able to finish," Cathedral coach Bryan Wood said. "We did a great job winning balls in the air. We seemed to win every single header out there. I think that's a mental thing -- when one team is winning all the headers, they're just pounding the ball right back at you. In the first half, I think they only crossed the half line three times."

Rio Mesa's appearance in the semifinal was a surprise to even the Spartans, who had finished fourth in their league but won seven straight playoff games and captured their first Southern Section title en route to the regional semis.

Regardless, they presented a challenge for Cathedral, especially in stopping slippery forwards Ponce and Javier Marquez. Both managed to create some strong scoring chances, but Dons keeper Drew Illijerski proved to be a stone wall in goal.

Perhaps his biggest save of the game came in the 21st minute, when he dove to his right to deflect Ponce's free kick from just outside the box and then pounced on the rebound with two Spartans players pressuring.

"He shut them out pretty good," Wood said. "The save in the first half saved the game. They would have gone up 1-0, so he made a big difference."