GILROY—Gilroy’s game against San Benito Tuesday looked more like a practice. It was a mismatch for both teams as the perennially strong Mustangs took on the first-year Haybalers and the score showed it. Gilroy cruised to a 9-0 win, marking its eighth shutout victory this season.
“For other games, when we play teams that might not exactly be of the same level as us, we usually stoop down and don’t exactly play our game,” said Gilroy’s Ellie Sausen. “I feel like this time we really kept up with Gilroy hockey standards and we played really well.”
The Mustangs wasted no time and jumped on San Benito five minutes into the game. Sausen notched the first of her two goals on a short corner.
Moments later, Emily Boykin scored back-to-back unassisted goals. Samantha Phipps capped off the first half with a goal, thanks to flawless passing from Boykin and Carli Coyler to lift Gilroy to a 4-0 lead at the half.
“I think we started off with our game faces and we came to play,” said Gilroy’s Cassandra Maciel. “If there were any bad calls, we just worked around it. We just played.”
Less than five minutes into the second half, Boykin fired a shot from 20 yards out that grazed the Baler goalie’s pad and landed in the back of the net. The goal gave Boykin a hat trick.
“We just passed really well and it was a great team effort,” Boykin said. “It was one of our best off-ball games. It was a great group effort instead of us being split apart. I was really proud of us today.”
Sausen and Coyler padded Gilroy’s lead, scoring within a minute of one another to give their team a 7-0 lead. The Mustangs kept firing away at the San Benito goalie, but the Balers’ defense held them off for a solid six minutes. Maddy Cox finally broke through as she flicked a shot past the netminder with 14:46 left to play.
Ang Hays poked the ball in the final score of the game with less than five minutes remaining.
The Balers had few chances to retaliate as they were held to midfield for most of the game thanks to strong play by the center midfielders. San Benito finally crossed into Gilroy territory with 6:30 left to play, but were quickly turned around.
“(Center midfielder) Ang Leonardo just tore it up,” Mustangs coach Adam Gemar said. “The outside mids really passed well, too. Whenever they did get the ball around the 50 (yard-line), they made great decision making with passing. It was just the hard work in the middle.”
Gilroy (13-3-3 overall, 8-1 in league) will play at Stevenson at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The Mustangs finish the regular season at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at Monterey.
