GILROY — The season may not have started the way Gilroy wanted it to, but Friday the team was able to end it on a high note.
The Gilroy girls soccer team capped off the regular season — and a spectacular second half turn around — with a 2-0 shutout of Alisal at home. It was the perfect send off for the teams’ seniors who were honored before the game.
Senior goalkeeper Alejandra Aceves was stellar in net to get the shutout and gave credit to her defenders for helping her guard the net.
“It feels great — to get that (a shutout) the last game just feels like being back in freshman year when we won the last game to go into the CCS Championship. Sadly we didn’t do that this year,” Aceves said. “It is the greatest comeback ever.”
Alexi Slattery helped keep the game scoreless, making key clears in both halves after a couple miscues led to Acves coming out too far. The game could have easily been 3-2 Alisal had it not been for Slattery.
“I was really scared that they were all going to go in and I was just there to save them,” the junior defender said. “We all worked hard.”
Gilroy drew first blood as Ariel Shelley was able to knock in a goal off an assist from Chelsey Robles in the sixth minute. The Mustangs continued to dominate offensively, but weren’t able to get another score in the half.
Alisal started the second on the attack, but the Gilroy defense stood tall. The visitors’ last chance came on a corner in the 58th minute, but came up just short. Samantha Gonzalez put the nail in coffin, scoring in the 78th minute for Gilroy.
“We start with a lot of injuries and the kids were kind of discouraged because a lot of the good players were not in games. I think that was one of the things and they were not comfortable and we had a lot of freshmen,” Mustangs coach Mario Gomez said. “Today was one of the best games. We dominated a team with eight seniors and (they) are a very good team.”
The Mustangs finish the season with a 7-9-2 overall record, 6-4-2 in league play.
