On January 7th, 2012 the Scotts Valley Falcons girls varsity soccer team traveled to Watsonville, California to play the St Francis C.C. Catholic Sharks in our 2nd Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League (SCCAL) game. The weather was perfect and the field conditions were OK at most. The lady Sharks entered the game with a record of 0 wins and 5 losses in their preseason. This was the first SCCAL game of 2012 for the Sharks. The Falcons entered the game with an SCCAL record of 1 win and 0 Losses and an overall record of 4 wins, 3 losses and 2 ties. The Sharks are a young team, looking for an upset and well coached. The game started with both teams trying to get in a rhythm of ball control. The field conditions created difficulties with good passes and controlling the ball. The Falcons were able to put numerous shots on goal as well as close to the goal but the ball failed to hit the back of the Sharks net. The Sharks were unable to put a shot on our goal because of a stingy Falcon defense. In the 39th minute Falcon junior captain Madison Black delivered a good pass to Lena Gustafsson who punched the ball into the Sharks net for our first goal. The half ended with the score being, Falcons 1 to the Sharks 0. The second half pretty much was started with the same struggling as the first half by the Falcons. The scaled down soccer field dimensions kept the Falcons speed in check. The Falcons did not play up to their capabilities, expectations or talent. The Sharks had a great game keeping the Falcons from getting into their ball control and attack game. In the 44th minute the Falcons senior Sonja Gustafsson made a run down the right sidelines and made a perfect cross into the middle of the field. Junior captain Madison Black took the pass, settled the ball and fired a shot into the Sharks goal for our second score. The game continued with the Falcons struggling with their game. The Falcons ended up having 10 shots on goal the entire game with approximately 10 more shots being off frame. The game ended with the score being, Falcons 2 to the Sharks 0. The Falcon goalkeeping was started by junior captain Emily Johnson who played 60 minutes. Emily kept in the game by directing the defense and using her athletic presence in the goal to stop any Shark attacks. 20 minutes of goalkeeping was by sophomore Claire Covert who finished the game. The Falcon forwards had a fair game putting pressure on the Sharks defense and goalkeeper. The forwards were led by senior Taylor Rohde, senior Sonja Gustafsson, sophomore Darby McFall, junior Kyla Miller and junior Jessica DuBridge. The midfielders for the Falcons controlled the middle while covering back defensively and forward offensively. The midfielders were led by junior Madison Black who had another excellent game. Also playing midfield was senior Sonja Gustafsson, sophomore Lena Gustafsson, senior Jessica Romeo, junior Sarah Shaughnessy, junior Rachel Dubridge and senior Kathryn Balch. Once again the Falcon defense was like a wall preventing the Sharks from mounting any sort of attack. The defense was led by senior captain Jordin Carlson, senior captain Kalynn Morano, junior Rachel DuBridge, junior Kacey Lilly and sophomore Megan Keating. We would like to thank the lady Sharks for giving us a good game. Best wishes to the lady Sharks in their future SCCAL conference games. We continue to nurse injuries to senior captain Emily Payne, senior Shanan McFall and senior Taylor Rohde. We were also missing a key component to our midfield, senior Ranae Maloney who was out for family reasons. Our record now stands at 2 wins 0 losses in the SCCAL and 5 wins, 3 losses and 2 ties in the overall 2011-12 season. Our next game will be on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012, 7:00 PM, against the league powerhouse Aptos Mariners at Aptos High stadium in Aptos. |