Mustangs lose 4-2 in back-and-forth game
Gilroy – Robert Louis Stevenson scored a pair of goals less than a minute apart in the fourth quarter to break a tie, and the Pirates defeated Gilroy 4-2 Thursday in a Tri-County Athletic League match.
“The hustle was there,” said Mustang coach Tom Been. “I am not disappointed at all. I don’t think we got one 50-50 call. But I’m not complaining. That is water polo sometimes. They got some swimmers. They deserved to win the game.”
Sophomore Meagan Collett scored both goals for Gilroy (6-8-1, 4-3 TCAL).
“We really wanted to win this game,” Collett said. “We played an awesome game. I think we tried our hardest.”
Collett started the scoring with a goal with 55 seconds left in the first period.
But RLS answered 15 seconds into the second period.
With 1:56 left before the half, Collett crossed the ball to her left to Casey Collum. Collum’s shot was deflected back to Collett in front of the net for an easy goal on the out-of-position goalie and a 2-1 Mustangs’ lead.
The Mustangs, however, were shutout in the second half. RLS scored the tying goal with 2:19 left in the third quarter on a shot from outside.
“When we got chances to shoot, we couldn’t hit the corners,” Been said. “We still didn’t pressure the shots enough outside. They got a couple speedsters, but we kept them corralled for the most part.”
Most of the Pirate offense in the game came from the perimeter, and Mustang goalie Talia Lauber easily gobbled up the one-time attempts.
“We’re still trying to figure out how to move the ball,” said first-year RLS coach Donald Anselmi, whose team is 4-2 in league. “It is tough to move the ball against a good defense like Gilroy’s. You might get a drive here and there. It was a good defensive game on both sides. Both goalies were making big saves.”
The score could have been a lot higher. Lauber made a nice stop on a back-hand shot late in the third quarter. RLS had a point blank shot on a breakaway with 20 seconds left in the third, but the shot went wide.
But Gilroy also had its chances. Sarah Burnett had a nice cross to Jenny Ailes in the fourth, but the shot was just wide. Ailes had a goal called back with 30 seconds left in the first half, much to the dismay of Been.
“I thought it was a good goal,” Been said. “Jenny is usually good for two to four goals per game. They kept collapsing on her. We need to work on getting her some more sets.”
The Mustangs received some bad news after hole-defender Lauren Van Herk suffered a hairline fracture on her finger in the third quarter.
The Mustangs were coming off a 6-5 win Tuesday at Salinas. Ailes scored four goals. And Collett one and Kelly Been each had one.
JV: The Gilroy JV team lost 6-4 to RLS’ varsity second-string team. The Mustangs (3-3) were down 5-0 and 6-1 before rallying.
