GILROY—Wednesday’s match between Gilroy and St. Francis could’ve easily been mistaken for a Central Coast Section playoff game.
Both teams brought their A-game, but neither could edge out the other even as the game went into overtime. The Mustangs and Lancers settled for a 1-1 tie at Gilroy High School.
“We always rise to the occasion playing St. Francis, Mitty and Los Gatos,” Gilroy coach Adam Gemar said. “They’re stacked, but evidently we are, too. …I’m excited for these guys because I was just ready for anything. I was ready for 6-0, ready to win 3-1, ready to lose 2-1—I didn’t know.”
The Mustangs were the first to draw blood off a Katrina Carter goal just four minutes into the game. Carter said the feeling of scoring—especially against a high-caliber team like St. Francis—is indescribable, but that it’s gratifying to see all her sweat, blood and tears come to fruition.
“Everything that we worked on at practice, all that hard work for three hours everyday, all the fitness, pays off when you’re on the 10 and you’re sprinting down the field,” she said.
Gilroy’s lead didn’t last long, however, as St. Francis scored the equalizer just three minutes later. The goal energized the Lancers’ offense and it began relentlessly trying to make its way into the shooting circle, but Illeana Garcia was there to meet and stop them each time.
Garcia, who is a first year varsity player, came up with several crucial stops and saves to help preserve the tie. She fearlessly awaited the oncoming attack and put her stick down at exactly the right moment to send St. Francis chasing the ball back down the field.
“I thought we did really well,” Garcia said. “Our defense was definitely up to par with St. Francis’s level. Our communication was at it’s highest that it’s ever been. Our chemistry was just on today, too. I think everything is in the right place and it just worked, it flowed.”
Both offenses did their best to take the lead before the half. Carter showed off her stick handling, juking around several St. Francis defenders to fire off a shot that went just wide. The Lancers followed suit, racing down the field and got a shot off just before time expired. The Mustangs were there to meet them, however, and their coverage made St. Francis shoot before it was ready, resulting in an attempt that was also just wide of the awaiting Jackie Jauregui in net.
“We just switched it up the last couple days because we wanted to generate more offense and we needed to be better on defense,” Gemar said. “In the past, we usually try to fix the offense first. This year, we fixed the defense. Not that it’s fixed, there’s always holes, but we’re a lot better now.”
Gilroy dominated possession in the second half, drawing multiple corners, but it just couldn’t put the bread in the basket.
Carter had back-to-back shots on goal just 23 seconds apart in the last eight minutes, but the Lancers goalie wouldn’t let anything past her.
Even though Carter and her teammates weren’t able to push another goal in for the win, she said it’s nothing for the Mustangs to hang their heads about—in fact, it’s just the opposite.
“I think that everybody took it to heart and put everything on the field because they knew that this was like ‘the game’—it’s always Mitty and St. Francis,” she said. “Our communication was amazing. We’ve had so much trouble with that and today it was so good. I’m just so proud right now, this was such a good game. It’s almost as if we were playing in CCS.”
Gilroy (8-0-3) will have little rest as it prepares for what is sure to be another battle with rival Archbishop Mitty at 3:30 p.m. today. The Monarchs eliminated the Mustangs from the CCS playoffs last season, but they aren’t intimidated.
“As long we played like we did today and we recover tonight, I think we can beat them,” Carter said. “Honestly, St. Francis is the best the team in our league I think, in my opinion. Considering that we almost beat them and we were dominating the whole game, I think Mitty should be pretty easy as long as bring back what we did today.”
