Gilroy loses 1-0 to Scotts Valley despite playing solid
defensively on slick field
n BY MARC DAVID Sports Editor
Gilroy – Neither reputation nor inclement weather stopped Gilroy’s girls’ soccer team Saturday at Garcia-Elder Complex.
Scotts Valley simply waited for an opportunity to penetrate the Mustangs’ staunch defense. It came in the form of a misdirected head.
The Falcons, Central Coast Section second-place finishers the last two years in Division 3, emerged from a non-league encounter with a 1-0 win.
“They’re good,” GHS coach Jose Hernandez said. “They have four or five girls who play with Amanda (Bruce) on her club team.”
Because they know Bruce so well, Scotts Valley (5-1-1) gave the prolific midfielder special attention Saturday. Negine Monsour marked Bruce throughout much of the game, never allowing the high-scoring senior to get untracked offensively.
Gilroy (2-3) mounted some offensive charges, but most of the game was controlled by the Falcons, who exhibited crisp short passing and knowledge of where teammates would be on the field.
Still, the Mustangs battled Scotts Valley on even terms during the first half except for the mis-directed header. Jen King got credit for the Falcons’ goal.
Hernandez, who was furious with Gilroy’s level of play two days earlier in a 3-0 win over North Monterey County, was more pleased Saturday because he knows how good the Falcons are.
Interestingly, the Mustangs battled Scotts Valley to a scoreless tie last year before Gilroy ever posted a win (the Mustangs started 0-4-2). But GHS used that solid performance as the springboard to an unbeaten nine-game stretch that followed.
The difference this year is that Gilroy still has two A Division teams on its schedule. The game with Scotts Valley last year was the Mustangs’ final upper-tier opponent.
Saturday’s game gave GHS the chance to check out the turf at Garcia-Elder Complex to see how it would feel during rain.
“It’s a lot better than the grass, which gets so muddy,” junior forward Sara Hugo said. “With this, the water drains through. It’s slick and the ball runs quickly. It’s tough to adjust to it.”
The Mustangs’ defenders and midfielders adjusted well. Scotts Valley had few good shots on goal. And Hernandez thought the team was sharper than it was against NMC.
“We had more communication on defense and made less mistakes,” Hernandez said. “As frustrated as we were in the first five minutes (of the game), we never put our heads down. We played with good energy after the first quarter of the first half.”
And GHS had its chances to beat an A Division team.
“The whole point is we stayed with them and scored the only goal of the game,” Hernandez said.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, that “only” goal went backwards into the wrong net.
