Jordan Brown and Jared Beeson of The Paly Voice recap the Paly varsity girls’ soccer team’s Friday, Dec. 12 victory over Gunn.
The following is a complete transcript of the above podcast.
Brown: Hi. I’m Jordan Brown.
Beeson: And I’m Jared Beeson, for Voice Waves.
Brown: Paly varsity girls’ soccer defeated cross-town rival Gunn 4-2 on Friday, Dec. 12. The Vikings got on the board early with a quick goal from junior forward Maeve Stewart off of a cross into the penalty box. After Stewart’s goal, first half play was slow until Gunn senior forward Eleanor Greely scored around the 20th minute. Greely scored by chipping over the goalie in a one-on-one situation.
Beeson: That was all the scoring in the first half. According to Paly Head Coach Ernesto Cruz, the first half score did not reflect the game play.
Cruz: “Since the beginning we played very well. I mean, we were doing our job, but the score actually wasn’t on our side.”
Brown: Gunn came out strong in the second half, with senior forward Nikki Bahlman scoring within the first few minutes. The goal was scored on a Paly defensive breakdown, after which Gunn seemed to dominate play, having made the game about athleticism rather than possession. Gunn accomplished this by spreading out the field and making mostly long, somewhat imprecise passes, thus turning the game into a running competition with the outcome based on who could get to loose balls the fastest. For a while, Paly played Gunn’s game, connecting few of their own passes and, for the most part, losing the physical battles, allowing Gunn to control the game.
Beeson: Cruz, however, remained unperturbed.
Cruz: “I was very confident. I even told my assistant: ‘Look, we tie… when they scored the second one, I said look, if we tie this game, we’re going to get the momentum and then we’re going to kill them.'”
Brown: In the 24th minute of the second half, Paly proved Cruz right, and began a barrage of goals with the tying one scored by senior midfielder Sammi Bengston — Bengston made a centering pass after her defender caught up with her on a breakaway, and the pass ricocheted off of a Gunn defender and into the goal.
Beeson: Two more goals followed in the next six minutes, putting Gunn in a deep hole, which proved to be inescapable. The first of these two goals was on Stewart’s shot from inside the penalty box, off of a Bengston pass in behind Gunn’s defense. The second goal began with sophomore midfielder Gracie Cain’s corner kick that passed over the goal to the opposite side of the penalty box, where it was received by junior midfielder Kaitlyn Patterson, who dropped the ball back for sophomore midfielder Gracie Marshall at the left corner of the penalty box, who put the ball in the back of the net with a shot to the goal’s upper right corner.
Brown: Paly also defeated Monta Vista, 3-1, at home on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Paly’s next home game is on Wednesday, Jan. 7, against Los Gatos High School. Thanks for listening to another episode of Voice Waves.