Lady Mustang kickers shut out at home by North Salinas, 6-0.
GILROY – The Gilroy High girls soccer squad did everything in its power to limit North Salinas’ scoring opportunities in Wednesday’s night game in Mustang Stadium.
But they did not count on Lady Vikings’ freshman striker Zoila Marquez – who netted four straight goals with her mighty boot. The Lady Mustangs could not mount much of a counter-attack – especially with starter Cydney Fong sidelined with a knee sprain – as they suffered a 6-0 home loss.
“We came in a lot more defensive-minded and still we need a lot of work defensively,” first-year head coach Adam Gemar said. “They (North Salinas) were able to sustain pressure – which we aren’t doing.”
The Lady Mustangs did have their moments though. Freshman forward Jackie Iwanaga flashed her ball skills on occasion – generating her squad’s limited amount of scoring chances.
“She’s good no matter where she goes,” said Gemar of Iwanaga, who has been shifted around the Gilroy line-up each game. “We’re trying to form new equations for next week. We saw some things we need to work on.”
Gilroy received a strong effort from midfielder Lizzette Gonzalez – who played several balls up to the front-line. But the Lady Mustangs remained a touch or two shy of getting any good looks on net.
“I thought that was her best game,” said Gemar of Gonzalez.
In the opening half, Marquez banged in two of her game-high four goals to give North Salinas a 2-0 edge at the break.
Coming out stronger in the second stanza, the Lady Vikings put the game out of reach early with two more Marquez strikes – both rocket shots that could not be stopped by goaltender Dallas Hernandez.
“Dallas is always phenomenal,” said Gemar, whose starting netminder made many tough saves. “We just had some bad luck and they had some good luck.”
Although the defense let up two more late goals via North Salinas sweeper Laisa Alcala, the Lady Mustangs got solid contributions from fullbacks Tracey and Heather Link as well as stopper Megan Olea and outside back Diana Hovey.
North Salinas (1-3 in T-CAL) notched its first league win, while Gilroy (0-4 in T-CAL) is still searching for answers with a Saturday game against neighboring power Live Oak at 3:30 p.m.
