Jaguar, Griffin JVs prevail again
By Larissa Dagnoni, Santiago Melgar and David Boldt
By Larissa Dagnoni, Santiago Melgar and David Boldt
The International and Cooperative junior varsity soccer teams mimicked the success of their schools’ varsities as they pushed on through their semifinal round Monday and will meet in the championship games Thursday.
But it wasn’t all that easy.
Griffin girls squeak through via shootout
Griffin girls squeak through via shootout
The International girls team had perhaps the toughest time. They trailed Christian Learning for most of their semifinal, tying the game at 2-2 only in the closing minutes.
And then they were behind 3-2 in the shootout, but blocked the Eagles last two shots, while making good on their two remaining opportunities, to win the shootout 4-3.
Eagle Emily Ordoñez´s goal had given the Eagles a 1-0 halftime lead. The game was tied at 1-1 when Mariana Roca made good on a penalty shot, but an artful shot by Eva Brown put the Eagles back on top 2-1 with time running down.
But the Griffins counterattacked ferociously and kept the ball in the Eagles end for most of the closing phase of the game, launching shot after shot at the increasingly embattled Eagle goalkeeper, Luana Velarde.
She repelled them all until Fabiana Zelada somehow got loose for a clear shot on goal from the right side, and put an almost perfect shot into the upper corner of the near side of the goal to tie the score and force a penalty shootout to decide who would make it to the finals.
The first three Eagles put the ball into the net, as did the first two Griffins. But the third Griffin attempt was blocked by Velarde, seemingly putting her team in the driver’s seat, 3-2.
But now it was the turn on the Griffin goalie, Maria Isabel Alexander, to come up big. The last two Eagle shooters gave her shots she could handle – and she handled them. Meanwhile, the last two Griffins made good on their shots.
The Griffins who made their shots were Roca, Sofia Sciaroni, Pamela Suarez, and Ciara Harriague. The successful shooters for the Eagles were Isabela Diaz, Ada Ribeira and Ordoñez.
Jaguar girls win on two late goals
Jaguar girls win on two late goals
The Jaguar girls, for their part, did not exactly have an easy time of it against Cambridge. Not a single goal appeared on the scoreboard during the first half of the game, the start of which was delayed while primary school teams from Cooperative and International finished their games.
Through most of the first half the the Jaguars kept attacking, but bthe Knight defense wasn't letting them penetrate close enough to score. The Jaguars did get off two shots on goal, but Cambridge goalie Renata Pinto was catching every ball that came her way.
Cambridge got a chance to score when Amaya Yañez passed the ball to Isadora Santos in the middle of the field, but Santos missed.
The second half started as a continuation of the first half. Jaguars Michelle Lederman and Alexandra Cadario kept kicking balls at the Cambridge goal, but all were going wide. For Cambridge, Yañez and Santos took the ball into the Cooperative end several times, but weren't able to score either.
Finally the Jaguars got the first goal, as they had in the previous game between the two teams. The goal was scored by Andrea Chavez, and as in the last game it seemed to cause the Cambridge players to lose the will to win.
Alexandra Cadario then scored an insurance goal for the Jaguars, making the final score 2-0.
Jaguar boys prevail against Knights 1-0
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| Cambridge defender tries to clear the ball past teammate and lurking Jaguar -- Julia Boldt |
Cambridge got a chance to score when Amaya Yañez passed the ball to Isadora Santos in the middle of the field, but Santos missed.
The second half started as a continuation of the first half. Jaguars Michelle Lederman and Alexandra Cadario kept kicking balls at the Cambridge goal, but all were going wide. For Cambridge, Yañez and Santos took the ball into the Cooperative end several times, but weren't able to score either.
Finally the Jaguars got the first goal, as they had in the previous game between the two teams. The goal was scored by Andrea Chavez, and as in the last game it seemed to cause the Cambridge players to lose the will to win.
Alexandra Cadario then scored an insurance goal for the Jaguars, making the final score 2-0.
Jaguar boys prevail against Knights 1-0
The Jaguar boys had it even tougher than the girls team, prevailing by a single goal, 1-0. Cambridge was the first to threaten, completing a sequence of passes that ended with Mauricio Soto getting the ball a little too far in front of Horacio Morales, allowing Jaguar goalkeeper Luis Peredo to scoop up the ball. (Peredo's fine play throughout the game in shutting out the Knights wins him the "Miracle Hands" award.)
Cambridge continued the same pattern of attack, trying to get the ball to Morales in scoring position and either just missing connections, or being thwarted by Peredo. Both teams made a series of great defensive plays.
Cooperative got its first big chance to score in the 22nd minute of the first half on a neatly executed play in which Peredo's kick went to Ian Peña, who carried it upfield and gifted it to Gabriel Romero, who got off a shot that Cambridge goalie Sebastian Carrasco punches off to the side.
But the danger didn't pass. Jaguar Fernando Viacava now emerged from the shadows with the ball (the lights are now on) and shot to kill. Goalie Carrasco had no chance on this one, and an effort to head it off by defender Daniel Kirigin proved useless as the ball went into the right hand corner of the goal. The schoolyard echoed with the applause and screams for Viacava.
The game was far from over, and the closing minutes of the first half were consumed by Cambridge's continuing efforts to find a way to get the ball past Peredo.The Knights got a free kick with little time remaining.
The Jaguars stopped the scoring effort following Soto's kick by knocking the ball over the end line, which resulted in a Cambridge corner kick by Gabriel Rosas that Leonardo Arges controled in front of the right side of the Jaguar goal. Seeing his path blocked by Peredo (among others) Arges tried to kick the ball across to where Kirigin was charging in on the left. Kirigin arrived on schedule but his kick missed wide as the half ended.
The second half started with Jaguar Romero faking his way past Percy Justiniano, but Pablo Undurraga arrived before Romero could do any real damage.
Peña looked like he would get a scoring opportunity for the Jaguars moments later, but Santiago Melgar stepped on his legs. Peña fell down and couldn't do anything from there. The resulting free kick ended up giving Viacava another opportunity, but Cassasco repelled it. Romero got a chance to knock in the rebound but Carrasco gathered this one in and held it.
A similar sequence of events then played out at the other end of the field. Morales seemed about to breakaway when Rosas took him down, resulting in a free kick for Cambridge, which missed.
Just five minutes remained now and the ball went up and down the field until the final minute when Cambridge captain Soto was taken out by Rosas while enroute to the goal, giving Soto another free kick opportunity, this time from much closer in. His line drive missed by about one inch.
And that was the game, ladies and gentlemen -- 1-0 for Cooperative which now advances to the championship game against International. Cambridge will play Christian Learning for third place in the consolation game.
Griffin second half surge provides win
Cambridge continued the same pattern of attack, trying to get the ball to Morales in scoring position and either just missing connections, or being thwarted by Peredo. Both teams made a series of great defensive plays.
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| Cambridge captain Maricio Soto tries again to get loose and even the score -- Julia Boldt |
But the danger didn't pass. Jaguar Fernando Viacava now emerged from the shadows with the ball (the lights are now on) and shot to kill. Goalie Carrasco had no chance on this one, and an effort to head it off by defender Daniel Kirigin proved useless as the ball went into the right hand corner of the goal. The schoolyard echoed with the applause and screams for Viacava.
The game was far from over, and the closing minutes of the first half were consumed by Cambridge's continuing efforts to find a way to get the ball past Peredo.The Knights got a free kick with little time remaining.
The Jaguars stopped the scoring effort following Soto's kick by knocking the ball over the end line, which resulted in a Cambridge corner kick by Gabriel Rosas that Leonardo Arges controled in front of the right side of the Jaguar goal. Seeing his path blocked by Peredo (among others) Arges tried to kick the ball across to where Kirigin was charging in on the left. Kirigin arrived on schedule but his kick missed wide as the half ended.
The second half started with Jaguar Romero faking his way past Percy Justiniano, but Pablo Undurraga arrived before Romero could do any real damage.
Peña looked like he would get a scoring opportunity for the Jaguars moments later, but Santiago Melgar stepped on his legs. Peña fell down and couldn't do anything from there. The resulting free kick ended up giving Viacava another opportunity, but Cassasco repelled it. Romero got a chance to knock in the rebound but Carrasco gathered this one in and held it.
A similar sequence of events then played out at the other end of the field. Morales seemed about to breakaway when Rosas took him down, resulting in a free kick for Cambridge, which missed.
Just five minutes remained now and the ball went up and down the field until the final minute when Cambridge captain Soto was taken out by Rosas while enroute to the goal, giving Soto another free kick opportunity, this time from much closer in. His line drive missed by about one inch.
And that was the game, ladies and gentlemen -- 1-0 for Cooperative which now advances to the championship game against International. Cambridge will play Christian Learning for third place in the consolation game.
Griffin second half surge provides win
Not that the Griffin boys had exactly a walk in the sun in their 4-1 victory over Christian Learning. The winless Junior Eagles played their best game of the year, and had things knotted up 1-1 with the undefeated Griffins at halftime.
There was, moreover, a certain element of good fortune in the lone Griffin goal. Jose Luis Sciaroni’s high-speed shot from the right of the goal hit the near post and ricocheted into the chest of Eagle goalie Jose Luis Escudero, who couldn’t quite get control of it. It spun on the ground and just barely crossed the goal line.
Hernan Virreira shot in the equalizer for the Eagles a few minutes later. Virreira was playing his first game of the season because of earlier eligibility problems.
All that having been said, it must also be noted that in the first half the Griffins missed a penalty kick on a hand ball well inside the penalty box, as well as a point blank shot by an attacker who received a centering pass all alone in front of the goal and fired a shot that was just a little too high.
The Griffins did then proceed to break the game open with three goals in the second half, with Danny Hanley playing a role in all three.
For the first he fired a long centering pass that Simon Marone headed into the goal.
