| On January 11th, 2011 the Scotts Valley Falcons traveled to Depot Field in Santa Cruz to play the Santa Cruz Cardinals. The Cardinals entered the game with an overall season record of 1 win, 6 losses and 2 ties while their league record was 0 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie. The weather was cloudy and the field conditions were good. The Falcons and the Cardinals have a fierce rivalry with both teams always competing in every game. The Cardinal ladies are well coached and are always a Central Coast Section powerhouse contender. Both teams started the game with aggressive play and a focus on controlling the tempo and the ball. The Falcons struck quickly in the 7th minute when junior Taylor Rohde took a corner kick and served it into the middle on a beautiful cross. Sophomore Madison Black took the pass and headed the ball towards the goal where junior Jessica Romeo kicked the ball into the right lower corner of the goal past the diving Cardinal goalkeeper. The game then went back and forth with both teams playing hard to mobilize an attack. The first half had the Falcons mounting 4 shots on goal while the Cardinals attempted 2 shots on goal. The first half ended with the score being, Falcons 1 to Cardinals 0. The second half started equally intense with quality play by both teams defense, the middle trying to control the game and the forwards putting pressure on the opposing defense. At the 70th minute the Cardinal ladies had 2 simultaneous point blank shots on Falcon sophomore goalkeeper Emily Johnson but Emily was able to miraculously save both shots from going into the net. The game was filled with aggressive hard-nosed soccer and the Falcons ended the second half with 4 more shots on goal and the Cardinals had 4 shots on goal. The game ended with the score being, Falcons 1 to the Cardinals 0. The game was full of energy and strong play from start to finish. Emily Johnson did a fantastic job as the Falcon goalkeeper and ended up saving 6 shots on goal and registered another shutout for the season. The defense played together, stopped the Cardinal attack and settled the ball many times in order to build a counter attack. The defense was led by senior captain Aly Bothman, junior captain Kalynn Morano, sophomore Kacey Lilly, sophomore Rachel DuBridge and freshman Megan Keating. The midfielders for the Falcons had a fight all day going from defense to offense while trying to control the middle of the field. The midfield was led by junior captain Emily Payne, sophomore Madison Black, junior Ranae Maloney, junior Kathryn Balch, junior Jessica Romeo and freshman Lena Gustafsson. The Falcon forwards put on a great display of speed and pressure on the Cardinal defenders and goalkeeper. The forwards were led by senior captain Keara McCullough, junior captain Jordin Carlson, junior Taylor Rohde and sophomore Olivia Gonzalez. |