The girls’ soccer team (6-5-1, 3-3) dominated the Homestead Wildcats in a league match, 3-1, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at Paly.
“Today, they [the girls] were very solid as a team,” Viking head coach Ernesto Cruz said. “When you focus before the game and you know what to do mentally, I don’t think, as a team, they [the Vikings] will have anything against them.”
The Vikings started off strong with two goals in the first half. Within the first minutes of the game, Paly stole the ball from Homestead and counterattacked for a goal by senior midfielder Kaitlyn Patterson. Afterward, Paly pushed through Homestead’s defense when the Wildcat goalie was diving to retrieve a loose ball, giving Paly co-captain Kelly Jenks an opportunity to score the second goal of the match.
“We just need to keep up the offensive pressure to take off pressure from the defense,” Jenks said.
Homestead struggled on offense. Toward the end of the first half, a series of penalty kicks threw the Vikings off and Homestead headed the ball past Paly goalie junior Alex Kershner to make the game 2-1.
As fatigue settled in during the second half, both teams struggled to score goals, losing possession deep within the opponents’ territory, but both still tightly defending their respective goals.
“Defensively, we did really well,” Jenks said. “We played aggressive and that was good.”
The Vikings finished the game strong as junior Gracie Cain positioned a penalty kick in front of the goal for sophomore forward Marina Foley to score Paly’s third goal, making the end result a 3-1 Viking victory.
“It was a good win,” Jenks said. “We need to get these wins.”
This season, the Vikings had difficult away losses in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League against Monta Vista (0-2), Los Gatos (1-2) and Mountain View (0-3). Nonetheless, Cruz believes that the girls will have a strong season.
“Everybody here is good,” Cruz said. “You’ve got to fight every team. If they keep doing games like this, we will come very far.”
The Vikings will face Monta Vista High School at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 at Paly.