San Jose
– It was a tremendous turnaround. After an 0-10 league record in
2003-04, the Gilroy girls’ soccer team went 6-1-3 this year, twice
tied archrival Live Oak and embarked upon their first CCS playoff
trip since 1997.
San Jose – It was a tremendous turnaround. After an 0-10 league record in 2003-04, the Gilroy girls’ soccer team went 6-1-3 this year, twice tied archrival Live Oak and embarked upon their first CCS playoff trip since 1997.
Quite a run, and it had to end sometime.
For the Mustangs, that ending came earlier than they would have liked, on the artificial turf of Leland High where Gilroy lost 3-0 in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs Wednesday afternoon … and where the GHS boys had lost 1-0 to the Chargers in their own playoff match just 24 hours earlier.
“We just didn’t execute,” said head coach Jose Hernandez. “We knew Leland was of the same caliber as Live Oak and we knew we had a shot.”
The Mustangs could do little to turn back the onslaught of the Chargers, who controlled the ball throughout the game.
Leland head coach John Vasquez attributed his success to all the time they put into preparing for the game in addition to executing when they needed to.
“We came out with a lot of energy,” Vasquez said. “We came out and possessed the ball a lot better than Gilroy did.”
Leland only needed one goal, which it got a few minutes into the game on a penalty kick by senior Valerie Huffman following a Gilroy hand ball called on Maria Alfaro.
While the ‘Stangs kept the Chargers off the scoreboard the rest of the half, they couldn’t counter Leland’s constant pressure.
Eventually, Gilroy cracked.
Four minutes into the second half, Leland’s Stephanie Kato had the ball in front of the net. Mustang goalie Sara Hugo, who was all alone, came out to scoop up the ball, but bobbled it.
Kato took advantage of the error and punched the ball into the back of the net.
The 2-0 deficit seemed to light a fire under Gilroy, and the momentum shifted in their favor. But after 20 minutes, nothing materialized.
Leland regained control and pushed the ball downfield. In the 24th minute, the Chargers’ Evelyn Powery fielded a corner kick from Huffman and easily put the ball in for the final score of the game.
Even though she allowed three goals in, keeper Hugo never gave up.
On two separate occasions, she was challenged in front of the net, but both times, she came up big and kept the game from becoming a rout.
Hernandez praised his freshman ‘keeper for not letting a few mistakes take her out of her game.
“It would have been easy for her to hang her head, but she stayed in it,” Hernandez said.
The Mustangs were handicapped going into the game with the absence of top scorer Alysha Davis, who suffered a concussion in practice Monday.
Hernandez said the game could have been different had she played and brought her physical style to the proceedings. But the biggest letdown, according to Hernandez, is the fact that Davis will not return next season.
“This was her senior year,” Hernandez said. “She played all four years, and the year we go to CCS, she is hurt. That was a personal downer for her.”
After the game, a few tears flowed.
Junior midfielder Joana Olivo-Pedroza said she thought the team had a real chance at winning, but they didn’t communicate well and didn’t handle the ball as well as they needed to.
“We came out all pumped up, we wanted it,” Olivo-Pedroza said. “We just needed to communicate batter.”
Looking back on the season, Hernandez was pleased with his team’s performance, especially after last year’s disastrous league showing and 2-15-1 overall record.
“This was a huge experience for all of us,” Hernandez said. “We did some positive things at the start of this year.”
He hopes to build on the success of this season, but is unsure how the squad will look next year. For one thing, he’ll be losing three seniors.
“Who knows how we will be,” Hernandez said. “(The new season) changes the make up. We will try to build up in the offseason and work hard to return to CCS.”
