The San Benito girls soccer team opened up its season with a 3-3
tie against visiting Robert Louis Stevenson on Tuesday.
”
We had a couple opportunities to win, but so did they,
”
said coach Mike Schurig.
The Balers got on the board in the opening minutes on a goal by
Jenny Maheu with an assist by freshman Brittany Huth. San Benito
was down 2-1 at the half before taking the lead in the second. RLS
tied the score late in the game.
The San Benito girls soccer team opened up its season with a 3-3 tie against visiting Robert Louis Stevenson on Tuesday.
“We had a couple opportunities to win, but so did they,” said coach Mike Schurig.
The Balers got on the board in the opening minutes on a goal by Jenny Maheu with an assist by freshman Brittany Huth. San Benito was down 2-1 at the half before taking the lead in the second. RLS tied the score late in the game.
Maheu had an attempt that bounced off the RLS goalie and the goal post. And Martha Navarro came over and put the ball in to tie the game.
The go-ahead goal was scored by Amy Baxter on an assist by Huth, who was playing the left defender spot.
“We’ve only really been together for a week, and we have been sharing the field with the football team,” Schurig said. “RLS is a very skilled team. I felt good about how we played. We’ve been trying to work on conditioning so we wouldn’t have any injuries, and then we have one today.”
Although the Balers will be eying Live Oak as the team to beat this year, Schurig said that teams like Notre Dame and Salinas could also pose threats.
“If we can beat Live Oak, we can beat anyone,” Schurig said. “We won’t be content to losing and tying like we did last year. We may have a better team than last year. Our goal is to win CCS.”
The Balers finished last season with a record of 15-5-2 overall and 8-1-1 in league before losing 2-1 to Leland in the first round of the playoffs.
San Benito will be without its top forward Jenny Vandenberg until after Thanksgiving. Vandenberg, who was the area’s leading scorer last year with 56 goals is competing in a soccer tournament in San Diego.
Maheu, who had 36 goals last season, is another offensive weapon the Balers have this year.
The Balers have a strong defense as well. Junior Mary Von Urff is returning at keeper and brings a good presence to the box. Schurig is trying out a flat defense as opposed to the stopper/sweeper formation used last year to try to generate some more plays.
The team has a good mix of youth and experience. There are six seniors and two freshmen on the team.
Huth, who is in the starting lineup, is a good versatile player who can play offense of defense, Schurig said.
The other freshman is Ashley Perreira, who is the backup goal keeper. But she also gets her chances to play in the field as well.
The Balers will be playing on the smaller field in the back of the campus until December when they will play most of their home game on the football field.
