Leland scores game-winning goal in final minute of overtime to
win 1-0 and eliminate the Mustangs
Mountain View – One-year-old Kai Gemar didn’t know that the Mustangs had just lost 1-0 to Leland on Saturday in the Division I Central Coast Section field hockey quarterfinals.
All he knew was he was hungry. He let out a long scream to draw a few smiles as the team gathered together for one last time after the game at St. Francis High School.
“He has enough tears for all of us,” said dad and co-coach Adam Gemar.
Little Kai has been to many games to watch his parents coach. Last year, he watched the Mustangs knock off Los Gatos in penalty strokes to advance to the semifinals.
The No. 5 Mustangs were a minute away from sending the game against No. 4 Leland into penalty strokes. But the Chargers’ Clair Thompson came up with a steal and then had a one-on-one chance with goalie Stephanie Glenn.
Glenn had to come out of the goal to try to challenge the ball early, and Thompson was able to poke it past her in the final minute of the seven-on-seven, seven minute, sudden death overtime.
“I thought we outplayed them and had more scoring chances,” Gemar said. “That was really one of the only shots they had on goal. I think the field didn’t help us, even though it was the same for both.
“Some of the girls that had off games last game had off games this game. It was a lot faster than we are used to. Our turf is not quite as fast. We are used to having more fouls being called. Hockey is supposed to be more of a finesse game, so that got us out of our game a little bit.”
After the game, Gemar went around to each of his players to try to comfort them.
“We win as a team and lose as a team. No one should take the blame personally,” a tearful Russhelle Preeshl told her teammates after the game.
Leland advances to the semifinals today against No. 1 Mitty.
“We got really lucky,” said Leland first-year coach Arson Reyatt. “This is the team that gave us the closest matched competition. They had more opportunities than we did. And they had better off-the-ball movement.”
After scoring more than 100 goals and allowing just one in league, the Mustangs couldn’t get on the board despite numerous scoring chances.
“We just weren’t clicking together. We were playing discombobulated on the field,” said Lindsey Valadez, who was named the player of the game for making several game-saving defensive stops.
One of those came with 4:30 left in overtime after Valadez hustled back to help Glenn stop a fast break. The Chargers’ following short corner was cleared out.
“I just didn’t want to lose because all my friends are seniors on the team,” Valadez said. “This year was supposed to be our year to win it all. We didn’t want to have it end it yet.”
Kelly Perkins had a good chance to score six minutes into the game with a shot on goal. And nine minutes in the Mustangs had their first short-corner shot.
Another good scoring chance came on a cross from Erin Magill on the right to Amanda Spellman on the left side of the net. The shot went just wide. Spellman had another chance with five minutes left in the first half, but her shot was stopped by the goalie.
“We played well,” said defender Dana Schonemen. “We used our skills. We had good short passes, and we had good long passes.”
The Mustangs continued in the second half creating chances but being unable to finish. Gilroy averted disaster four minutes into the second after a backward pass was stolen and crossed in front of the net, but the Mustang defense was able to clear it out. The Chargers had a goal disallowed with 20:40 left that was shot outside the circle.
“You could tell by the other team’s reaction it wasn’t a goal,” Gemar said
Midway through the second half, the Mustangs had back-to-back short corners but couldn’t score.
Gilroy had a good chance to score with 11 minutes left in regulation on a scramble in front of the net with the Leland goalie out of position. But Leland was able to clear the ball.
“We played a better game than last game, but still not everyone was firing on all cylinders,” Gemar said. “We weren’t executing like we usually do. We didn’t play some of the situations exactly right. I knew of all the teams, whoever didn’t play well was going to lose because everybody can beat everyone.”
