GILROY—The Cougars proved they’re no one’s baby sister anymore.
Christopher, though just 5 years old, is already up to par with its older counterpart Gilroy. But it was the Mustangs who charged away with a 2-1 victory Wednesday’s league contest at CHS.
Gilroy’s Samantha Gonzalez was her team’s heroine, scoring in the 62nd minute off an assist from Agust Gomez.
“It was a rough game, but I think we did pretty good,” Gonzalez said. “I was excited and nervous at the same time (for the game) because it was against Christopher.”
Chelsey Robles put the Mustangs up 1-0 in the 7th minute, scoring to the far corner from 20 yards out. Gilroy had a chance to take a 2-0 lead into halftime, having been awarded a free kick, but the referee blew the whistle to end the half before Gomez could get her shot off.
Christopher gave itself seven scoring opportunities in the second half, but were unable to finish its plays. Tayler Silacci, Angela Leonardo and Monica Ruelas swarmed the Cougar shooters, which clogged up their passes lanes. Christopher was denied any second chances as the trio immediately cleared loose balls in front of the net.
“I tried to turn and there was one (girl), and I turn around and there’s another one,” Cougar forward Paulina Llamas said. “It was tough trying to find that open space to just shoot.”
Llamas scored the lone goal for Christopher in the 25th minute to tie the game at 1-all. Natalie Fillippi fed her the ball and Llamas had nothing but room to shoot as Gilroy goalie Brittany Bishop came too far out of the cage to make the save. That was the lone miscue Bishop had and the first-year goalie redeemed herself with 11 saves.
But Fillippi didn’t make it easy on her.
The Cougar had five scoring chances, including one that grazed the net in the 43rd minute. Scoring, Cougar coach Robert Beardsley said, has been an issue his team has dealt with all season. They’ve scored just six goals through six league games, and Fillippi said her team has to do some soul searching to right the ship.
“I think we have to come together and find it deep down that we really want it and push for it,” she said. “We can’t just take it easy in practice. We have to put it out there to get the results.”
Across town, the Mustangs appear to have found their stride. They have a winning record, 3-2-1 in league, for the first time this season and coach John Slattery credits the turnaround to tying with league-leader Salinas 1-1 on Jan. 23.
“The game in Salinas really opened our eyes that we can play in this league,” the Mustang coach said. “Salinas is probably the best team in this league right now and we took them to the wire. It just brings confidence and confidence brings victory sometimes.”
The Mustangs’ strong defense has allowed just two goals in its last three contests. It’s been strengthened by the return of senior Silacci, who won countless battles against the Cougars to feed the ball down field.
“We kind of changed up the defense and put her on the outside where she has room to eat up some time, dribble the ball and put on more offensive threat,” Slattery said. “I can’t say anything about Tayler Silacci except she’s great.”
Gilroy will back in action at 5:45 p.m. Friday when it host San Benito.
The Cougars, who are 4-8 overall and 2-4 in league, are looking to bounce back at 5:45 p.m. Friday at Salinas. The key, Beardsley said, will be finishing their scoring drives.
“Teams aren’t going to score a lot of goals on us, we’re a strong team,” he said. “We have our chances to put the ball in the net and we have to put the ball in the net. It’s killing us. We’re 2-4 now where we could easily be 4-2 and right in the mix of this. Now we have to figure a way for the second half of the season.”
