GILROY—Just two days earlier, Christopher’s Senior Night was spoiled by San Benito. On Friday, the Cougars returned the favor.
Christopher blanked Gilroy 3-0 at GHS in the season finale, splitting the season series between the two teams. Gilroy won the first meeting 2-1.
“Last time we beat them, so I think they really wanted it this time,” Gilroy senior Alexi Slattery said. “They just outplayed us in every play pretty much. They were just on top of us and pressuring us.”
Jamie Boutee sealed the victory for Christopher, firing a shot from 25 yards out for the final goal of the game. The score came in the final two minutes.
“I’m pretty sure I had like three crossbars like that, so it was good to finally get one in,” said Boutee, who had four shots on goal prior to scoring.
Christopher got off to a quick start as Paulina Llamas scored in the 12th minute. Her goal came off a free kick from the 20-yard-line and rolled right through Gilroy goalie Victoria Rodriguez’s legs. It was only the senior keeper’s second game back after suffering an injury early in the season. She was replaced by Brittany Bishop in the second half after taking a foot to the face as time expired in the first.
“We didn’t want to lose again,” Llamas said. “…I didn’t like my goal. It was really junky, but it was nice to get us up 1-0. It helped keep the team pumped up to score another one.”
After being turned away on a couple chances early, Zidant Okere found the back of the net in the 26th minute. The Cougar took advantage of a miscue by Rodriguez, who came too far out of the net for the save. Okere finished her shot and fired it into the empty net, putting her team up 2-0.
“It felt good to score after so many misses,” she said with a laugh.
Okere had three other quality chances against the Mustangs, but was unable to score again. Christopher coach Robert Beardsley said the game plan was to use the speedy Okere as much as possible against Gilroy.
“She’s getting herself into scoring chances so often, just by making good runs. We’ve been putting the ball up there just to give her good chances,” the Cougar coach said. “I thought she put a lot of pressure on their defense and I thought our defense played really well.”
The Cougars successfully completed their tough task of keeping Gilroy’s dangerous quadruplets—Slattery, Chelsey Robles, Agust Gomez and Samantha Gonzalez—away from the net. The Mustangs had 10 shots on goal in the game, most of which came in the second half.
Gilroy found its way to the net several times, but was often greeted by three or four Cougar defenders.
“I thought Cata Martin played a super game at center-mid. She just did so many good things,” Beardsley said. “Not everybody sees it all the time, but she plays great defense and distributes and gets us into good spots. I thought she was the difference maker tonight.”
One of the Mustangs’ best scoring chances came in the 77th when Slattery connected with Robles. Robles tried to head the ball in, but Christopher’s keeper smacked it out for the save.
“We went out too cocky because we won the last time,” Robles said. “They couldn’t take us one-on-one. They had like four girls against one person. It was really getting me mad. It was irritating.”
Gomez had back-to-back chances to get Gilroy on the board midway through the second. The Cougar goalie got a glove on Gomez’s cornerkick in the 51st, and the Mustang took another shot just a minute later that was deflected.
It was final game of the season for both teams as neither earned enough points to make the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Gilroy finished 6-11-2 overall, 5-5-2 in the Monterey Bay League-Gabilan Division. The Cougars went 7-10-1 overall, 5-6-1 in league play.
While the season didn’t go the way Christopher expected, Beardsley said he’s still proud of his team.
“We did not meet our expectations, but I thought we played well,” he said. “We just haven’t been able to finish. Missing Vanessa Koontz was huge. We haven’t been able to put the ball in the net, which has hurt us. We’ve dominated most games, but they don’t count that.”
