The Palo Alto High School girls’ soccer team failed to finish its regular season with a victory in a disappointing performance against the Mountain View Spartans, losing 1-0 at the Mayfield Soccer Complex on Friday.
“It was the worst game I have seen this season,” head coach Ernesto Cruz said. “The team was not connecting, and they [the Spartans] played better than us.”
During the first half of the game, the Vikings (5-5-2 league, 13-5-2 overall) were unable to work as a team, making several passing errors and communicating poorly. Mountain View (4-5-1, 5-7-3) took advantage of this, frequently penetrating the Paly defensive line. The Spartans scored the only goal of the match when Paly freshman keeper Alex Kershner mishandled the ball; after a Mountain View player fired a shot, Kershner did not catch the ball completely and let it drop back to a Spartan offender, who easily put the ball in.
Before the second half started, Cruz told his players that he would “rather have the team play well and lose” and encouraged them to “be patient, passing back and switching sides.” He also pointed out that the Vikings were being too quiet, not rotating the ball, and committing unnecessary fouls.
Cruz tried to boost the momentum with several substitutions, position changes, and encouragement to his players, but the team remained scoreless in the second half. With more accurate passes and positive effort, the Vikings had many more chances towards the end of the game, but they could not finish any of their drives with a goal.
“The game was pretty sloppy,” junior midfielder Sammi Bengston said. “We did not pass well and the shots were off.”
“Everyone seemed very tired, because it was our third match of the week,” sophomore Maeve Stewart said.
Senior captain Teresa Noyola was absent for the match as she is playing an international tournament in Chile with the U.S. Under-20 National team. She will not return until Feb. 17. Cruz admitted that the team is heavily dependent on Noyola’s talent, but he hopes this would change for the Central Coast Section Division II Championships next week.
“So far it looks like it [the team relies on Noyola], but we better put things together for CCS,” Cruz said.
Starting midfielders junior Jessie Duller and sophomore Alex Nguyen also missed the match due to a pulled quad muscle and knee injuries, respectively.
Paly will face Cupertino in the first round of CCS Wednesday, Feb. 13 at Santa Clara. If they get through the first round, the Vikings will play against Archbishop Mitty in the quarterfinals Feb. 16.
“Today we sucked,” Cruz said. “But we are going to put it behind, and we better come strong for CCS.”