GHS girls soccer team falls 7-1 to King’s Academy in Knight’s
Cup.
GILROY – After less than a week of varsity practices, the Lady Mustang soccer squad rushed over to King’s Academy for Tuesday’s first-round contest in the Knight’s Cup Tournament.
First-year head coach Adam Gemar – who was unaware of the scheduled game until early yesterday – threw a starting line-up on the field without any delay and watched as his young, inexperienced squad fell behind 5-0 in the first half en route to a 7-1 loss.
“Our first half was a little chaotic. I was just throwing girls in,” said Coach Gemar, blaming himself for the scheduling mishap. “We got their real late… It was good experience though just to go out and play somebody else.”
With the varsity roster only being named on Monday and still some questions remaining on players’ availability, the Lady Mustangs were not fully prepared – but they will be ready for Friday’s expected second Knight’s Cup game against Valley Christian at 1:30 p.m.
“I’m definitely optimistic, especially after yesterday’s game even though we lost there was a lot of good things that came out of it,” said Gemar, who replaces former head coach Sally Enriquez. “The only way to go is up.”
Gemar – who just finished up a successful field hockey season as a co-head coach with his wife, Erin – brought along several stickhandlers to the soccer field, including sophomore Meg Perkins and junior Tracey Link.
“It’s nice because the positioning for the most part is the same,” said Gemar, comparing field hockey with soccer. “It will do nothing but help the individual athlete in both sports.”
Gilroy – which lost its two top players to graduation (Jonel Thomas and Ashley Johnson) – does return junior striker Cydney Fong, a lethal goal-scorer last year as a sophomore.
“She’s a good player. She’s played for a long time,” said Gemar of Fong. “She can hit it from her left and right foot. We’ll look for good things from her.”
Other notables back for another soccer season are seniors Megan Olea – who played some sweeper in Tuesday’s game – and Jackie Arribierre – who was the starting goalkeeper last season.
“(Olea) is a pretty strong, pretty aggressive player that we need back there,” Gemar said. “We look for good things from her.”
Freshman Jaquie Iwanaga – who played defense and forward yesterday – has caught the eye of her coach in the early going with her polished skills she brings over from playing club soccer.
“She’s got really good skills. We might use her as midfield player just because she can distribute the ball well,” Gemar said. “As a freshman, she is calm and collective already. She has good common sense on the field.”
The young Lady Mustangs line-up also includes sophomore Alycia Davis and freshman Heather Link – both expected to see playing time in their first varsity seasons.
“(Davis) is another one who can be put anywhere (on the field),” Gemar said. “She’s another young player who has some years of soccer under her belt. She’s got good skills as well.”
Three players are competing for the starting goalkeeper spot with senior transfer Dallas Hernandez the early front-runner.
“We have three goalies on the team, but only one will get the spot and Dallas is looking very good,” Gemar said. “She’s a good field player, too.”
Gemar added that he is still looking at about four junior varsity players who could be brought up to the varsity squad.
The Lady Mustangs’ home opener is Tuesday as they play host to Seaside at 6:30 p.m. in Mustang Stadium.
“We really want to focus on the basics for most part and everybody needs them even if they’ve played 10 years or two,” Gemar said. “This year in practice we’re concentrating on every player touching the ball as much as possible. For the most part we are looking pretty good. We’ll see how season turns out.”
