Short corners were the key to a small slice of redemption
Thursday afternoon.
Scoring twice on set pieces – the first goal by Jenna Vivian,
the second by Elise Ogle – Gilroy High’s field hockey team
bolstered its claim of being one of the best teams, if not the
best, in the Central Coast Section by beating visiting Archbishop
Mitty 2-0.
GILROY – Short corners were the key to a small slice of redemption Thursday afternoon.
Scoring twice on set pieces – the first goal by Jenna Vivian, the second by Elise Ogle – Gilroy High’s field hockey team bolstered its claim of being one of the best teams, if not the best, in the Central Coast Section by beating visiting Archbishop Mitty 2-0.
“Blood! Sweat! Drip gold!” was the cheer before Mustangs ran onto the field to celebrate following the final buzzer. Taking down Mitty, which bounced Gilroy from the playoffs in overtime last year, was especially sweet for a team that has yet to lose a game this season. The Mustangs are now 10-0-1.
“It’s the same thing as the Los Gatos game,” GHS coach Adam Gemar said, referencing a 3-2 win to start the season. “All 11 players (on the field for Gilroy), I thought, were better.
“Our girls have the will right now.”
Goalie Geralyn Moon had a huge hand in getting Gilroy the victory, denying several crisp shots in the final eight minutes.
“She’s improved so much, it’s unbelievable,” Gemar said.
The Mustangs took a 1-0 lead late in the first half off Vivian’s goal, and Ogle gave her team some breathing room by converting a chopper early in the second half.
“I feel like we really stepped it up,” Vivian said after the game.
For Ogle, the difference between last year’s contest and how the Mustangs performed Thursday was night and day.
“We can actually find the goal now,” Ogle said, adding that Gilroy had one game last season in which it had 30 short corners and converted none.
With St. Francis being the only other CCS hockey powerhouse that Gilroy has yet to play, the Mustangs could be on their way to becoming the favorites once playoff time arrives.
Nobody on the team was willing to go that far quite yet, though.
“I don’t want to say anything,” Vivian said.
Undefeated after 11 games, one could say the record speaks for itself.
