Lady kickers start strong before falling 5-0 to Spirits.
GILROY – With the lights in Mustang Stadium shining down on the Gilroy High girls soccer team for its Thursday night game against Notre Dame, the local kickers came out full of fire – running even with the Lady Spirits for much of the first half.
But the first of three goals via Notre Dame striker Lissette Garay with five minutes left in the first half was a sign of things to come, as Gilroy allowed four more unanswered goals in the second half en route to a 5-0 home loss.
“I think our defense was getting tired,” said Lady Mustang forward Alysha Davis, who kept on hustling despite her squad’s second-half struggles. “I think we played really good. We need more passing and talking.
“We’re not very far (from putting it together),” she added. “If we keep working this hard, we should be up there.”
The Lady Mustangs (1-5-1 overall, 0-3 in T-CAL) gave up a quick goal by Notre Dame’s Michelle Dupree to open the second half and could not generate much of an offensive counterattack.
“After we give up a couple of goals, we seem to lose our spark a little bit. Maybe they were getting tired,” first-year head coach Adam Gemar said. “We’ve improved alot, especially our passing. A lot of work still needs to be done, for sure. We’re definitely improving.”
Things did not improve for Gilroy as the second half progressed. Notre Dame kept attacking with two straight goals from Garay – the first a sweet header off a crossing pass and the second a blistering shot just inside the post. The Lady Spirits completed the scoring when Lauren Bray found the back of the net late in the second half.
The Lady Mustangs look to get back on track with a Jan. 22 home game against North Salinas at 5:30 p.m. before traveling to powerhouse Live Oak for a Jan. 25 league game.
