Against Carmel Wednesday, the Gilroy field hockey scoring tab
ran so high, coach Adam Gemar had to start a second sheet of paper
just to keep track of all the action.
The Mustangs had 12 of 16 players on its roster score in a 22-0
league opening win against the Padres. GHS improves to 4-2-3
overall and 1-0 in the MTAL.
Gilroy – Against Carmel Wednesday, the Gilroy field hockey scoring tab ran so high, coach Adam Gemar had to start a second sheet of paper just to keep track of all the action.
The Mustangs had 12 of 16 players on its roster score in a 22-0 league opening win against the Padres. GHS improves to 4-2-3 overall and 1-0 in the MTAL.
“How do you not just kick their butt with play like that?” said Adam Gemar after the game. “There were no mistakes.”
Balanced and smart play from the Mustangs helped them dominate the offense throughout the whole game.
“We were all feeling each other,” said junior Jackie Moreno, who had a hat trick. “Our talking was great and everything was going our way.”
Literally, everything did go the ‘Stangs way. Carmel was able to get the ball onto Gilroy’s half of the field only a handful of times and had no shots on goal.
Coach Erin Gemar was happy to see the team accomplish one of the team’s three goals for the game, which was to communicate for the entire 60 minutes.
“I thought communication would be the hardest (to accomplish) because they don’t sustain good communication throughout the whole game,” she said. “But I felt like everyone had a part of that today.”
Gilroy wasted no time, scoring five goals in about the first 10 minutes of the game. By halftime, the ‘Stangs held a 9-0 lead. In the second half, the GHS offense just kept picking up speed.
“We were all really pumped before the game,” Moreno said.
One of the reasons for the excitement, senior Karlie Sandoval said, was because the team is still excited about playing on the new Garcia-Elder field.
“It’s real nice. More consistent, I guess,” said Sandoval, who had a goal and an assist. “It has a real good bounce when you want it.”
Kelly Perkins led the team in goals with four, including one long shot that she drilled into the left corner of the net past Carmel goalie Anglica Velarreal.
“That was an awesome drive from 16 feet out,” Sandoval said about Perkins’ late game shot.
Other scoring leaders were Dana Schoeneman (2 goals, 4 assists), Stephanie Glenn (2 goals, 2 assists), Heather Link (2 goals, assist), Erin Magill (2 goals, assist) and Amanda Vasquez (2 goals). Rushelle Preeshl added five assists.
The ‘Stangs play again tomorrow at Monterey.
Girls Water Polo
Gilroy – After getting easily beat 13-4 in a scrimmage with Notre Dame two weeks ago, the Gilroy girls water polo team was going to have to turn things around if it wanted to beat the Spirits in the season opener Tuesday.
Surprisingly, the ‘Stangs did just that, defeating Notre Dame by a score of 9-8 in a match that went down do the last shot.
With the final seconds ticking down, Notre Dame’s most dangerous scorer had a breakaway one-on-one opportunity with Gilroy goalie Lauren Van Herk. The Gilroy lead on the line, Van Herk came up with a big save to preserve the Mustang first win of the season.
“She could have tied it up easily and Lauren just stuffed her,” said coach Andy Been. “It was a great confidence builder.”
This is the first time in his three years as the girls varsity head coach that Been has had a team open with a win.
“It could be an exciting year for us,” he said.
Been was pleasantly surprised by the productivity of the Mustang offense, which got off to a quick start.
Jenny Ailes, who led the team with three goals, scored in the first minute of the game.
“(She) stole the ball and broke away to score,” Been said. “I was like, yeah, wow, where’d we get that from?”
Gilroy had a 9-5 lead toward the end of the game, but Notre Dame surged back to 9-8 on Gilroy’s second string of players. Been put his starters back in, who preserved the lead.
Second to Ailes in scoring was Lauren Baty with two goals. Kelly Been, Cassie Collom and Megan Collett also had a goal apiece.
In JV play Thursday, Gilroy beat Sobrato 13-6. The girls and boys varsity water polo teams play next on Wednesday at home against Monterey.
Cross Country
Cross country is known as an individual sport. But it was working as a team that helped the Gilroy boys sweep the top four spots in its meet against Palma at Toro Park in Salinas Monday night.
Gilroy senior Arnulfo Velasquez took first with a time of 17:38. Second to him was his brother Jose Velasquez (17:41), followed by Humberto Pineda (3rd, 17:41) and Derek Pesta (4th, 17:48).
Gilroy coach Cathy Silva said running together has been something the team has been working on in practice. On Monday, the work paid off.
“They did a great job running as a pack,” Silva said. “Mentally, when you start to get tired, your teammates help you through. There’s a whole strategy behind it that seems to be working. The boys are really taking it on.”
It’s also helped the team’s times drop to early season lows.
“To see the top five runners already running 18 or less is phenomenal for us,” Silva said.
For the girls varsity squad, which competed against Notre Dane, junior Megan Litle took second with a personal record of 22:51.
“In just a week’s time, she knocked off 26 seconds,” Silva said. “She broke the barrier of 23 minutes, which is something she hasn’t done before.”
In the JV meet, Gilroy took the top two spots in both the boys and girls races. Romero Diaz (18:50) took first and Jaime Reyes (18:56) took second for the boys while Christine Bobula (25:48) and Tiana Jones (26:02) were No. 1 and 2 for the girls.
Gilroy’s next meet, the Chieftain Invitational, will feature 30 schools and some of the top cross country talent in the section. That takes place in Salinas on Saturday.
Girls’ Volleyball
The Gilroy girls’ volleyball team dropped another close contest to Monterey Tuesday, 17-25, 22-25, 25-15, 22-25, dropping to 1-4.
This marks Gilroy’s third-straight loss since its season opening win against Alvarez.
“We’ve been talking a lot at practice about focusing on communication,” said coach Sue Grogan. “They’re still unsure of themselves … They have the skill, it’s just a matter of them keeping their heads in the game.”
Against Monterey at home, errors often balanced out the positives aspects of Gilroy’s game. The Mustangs had 17 service aces, but 10 service errors; 15 kills, but 15 attacking errors.
“You kind of go back and forth,” Grogan said.
In the loss, Kayla Meazell had seven aces and six kills. Also contributing were Isabelle Szucs (5 kills), Jessica Groppe (5 aces) and Katherine Hussey (10 assists).
Gilroy returns home after three four games on the road to play Seaside today at 7pm.
Girls’ Golf
In its first match of the season, the Mustang girls golf team finished fifth out of nine teams with a team total of 220 at the TCAL Tourney at Ridgemark Golf and Country Club in Hollister Tuesday.
Leading the way for the Mustangs was Annie Cockerill, who shot a 47, followed by Kristen Campos who had a 48.
“I definitely felt like we could have shot lower,” said coach Kari Williams. “We’re looking to get more from the girls who are returnees…I expect them to improve their scores.”
The girls hit the links again Monday against San Jose’s Notre Dame at San Jose Municipal.
