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| SQUEEZE PLAY -- Griffin forward Matilde Gamarra can't quite get through the Jaguar defensive line. Jonatan Muñoz, International |
Female Jags keep record perfect
The Cooperative girls varsity soccer team continued its undefeated season with a 4-0 win over International on the Griffins field Tuesday.
The game had promised to be a more climactic affair after International had come close to beating or tying the Jaguars in their first meeting of the year, which Cooperative had won 2-1 on a goal that was accidentally scored by a Griffin defender. However, the Griffins have lost a few key players to injuries since then, while the Jaguars appear to have, if anything, gotten stronger. The victory clinched first place for the Jaguars in the regular season.
The score was quite respectable, however, until midway through the second half. The Jaguars took the lead early in the first half when left winger Fernanda Vaca Diez whacked home a shot. Cooperative got its second goal late in the half on a Griffin defensive miscue that deflected the ball into the Griffins own goal,
The score stood 2-0 in favor of Cooperative at halftime.
International fought hard to get back into the game in the second half but its passing attack failed to click, and forward Laura Maragaño, its chief scoring threat this season, could break loose. Both teams seemed to suffer from the strain of playing two games in two days, but the Griffins seemed more worn down than the Jaguars by the middle of the second half.
With the suddenness of a summer storm Cooperative's fleet forwards accomplished a series of breakaways that put the game out of reach, and showed what kind of offensive firepower the Griffins had kept bottled up until then.
First Vaca Diez struck for her second goal of the day in a on-on-one confrontation with Griffin goalies Stephanie Gioto in which Gioto didn't really have a chance. Within no more than two minutes, Maria Jose Rivero struick up the middle in similar fashion.
And it could have been worse. Tania Landivar, striking from the right side, banged a shot off the upright and then was robbed on a brilliant reflexive kick save by Giotto.
Eagles edge Lady Knights 1-0
By Trevor Reed
Christian Learning
The Christian Learning varsity girls soccer team seemed to carry the momentum from their victory over International Monday into Tuesday's game against Cambridge, and won this second game by the same 1-0 score.
The first half was was fairly uneventful, with almost no shots on goal by either team. However, the Eagles dominated the play and had a few chances to score on corner kicks, but Cambridge played error-free defense. The half ended 0-0.
As the second half progressed, the Eagles got closer and closer to scoring a goal, until Abby Phillips finally got a clear shot at the opposing goal in the closing minutes. The Knights goalie tried to pick up the goal, but it slipped from her hands and 7th grader Emily Ordoñez was in the right place at the right time to tap in the carom.
It was Ordoñez' third goal of the day -- the first two had come in the JV game -- giving her a kind of hat trick for the afternoon.
The Eagles were able to hold off the Knights for the rest of the game, which ended 1-0 in the Eagles' favor. Much of the credit for the shutout goes to seventh grader Luana Velarde, the Christian Learning goalie, who had also played the entire JV game.
She played by the JV and varsity games Monday as well, and recorded shutouts in three of the four gamess over the two-day period. (The Eagles usual varsity goalie, senior Sharon Gabler, is in Australia attending her brother's wedding.)
This story was corrected on April 8. It had originally credited Velarde with four shutouts. However, she was nicked for a goal in the International JV game, which ended in a tie.)
The Cambridge defense had some close calls. A desperate charge by a Knight defender kicked wide an attempt by Abby Phillips that had seemed destined for the far side of the net. Jessica Smith almost tallied a few minutes later when her high, booming kick bounced over the Cambridge goalie's head, but it dinged off the crossbar on the Cooperative field's goal, which is lower than regulations stipulate.
Cambridge came closest to scoring when Christian Learning sweeper back misplayed a ball sent into her zone, and an alert Cambridge forward nearly slipped the ball past Velarde. The forward and goalie collided and fell to the ground, but both were able to continue playing. Cambridge had lost its starting goalie in the first half after taking a ball in the face during a multi.player scramble in front of the Cambridge goal.
(Keith Wilcke of Christian Learning contributed to this report.)
