It was dej
à vu all over again for the Balers during the first round of the
Tri-County Athletic League finals Tuesday.
After defeating the Spirits 9-2 just six days earlier to wrap up
the regular season, the Balers posted a 12-5 win over the same
team.
It was dejà vu all over again for the Balers during the first round of the Tri-County Athletic League finals Tuesday.
After defeating the Spirits 9-2 just six days earlier to wrap up the regular season, the Balers posted a 12-5 win over the same team.
San Benito (13-11) will continue the TCAL tournament Thursday at Santa Catalina. The game will be at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of the Santa Catalina/Salinas game.
“We were definitely able to pick it up toward the end,” said Baler coach Derek Kisling. “We are getting everyone back healthy. And I am really excited about our chances.”
The Baler defense set the tone early, and the offense contributed four consecutive goals by four different scorers in the first period.
“We were playing pretty solid defensively,” Kisling said. “We limited them to long desperation shots. They got two shots on the hole and got a couple mismatches off that. Every once in a while one is going to go in.”
In the previous game between the teams, the Spirits took more outside shots than they did Tuesday.
“That is pretty much the standard play for them, so we were ready for it,” Kisling said.
“There were a lot more shots today,” said Notre Dame coach Derek Becker. “The defense was strong both ways. It was tough getting it to the sets. The team that had the better passing won.”
San Benito won three of the four sprints in the game. Juliana Sih, Denise Simens and Stacey Lass all beat out Notre Dame sprinter Lauri Martin.
The Balers got on the board first at the 4:25 mark in the first quarter. Megan Willhoft threw the ball ahead to Sih, who drew the goalie out for the score.
Amanda Rodriguez put the Balers up 2-0 27 seconds later when she lobbed a ball into the net.
With 1:56 left in the first quarter, Jenna Decoite took a shot that was deflected by a defender just out of the reach of Notre Dame goalie Melissa Ward.
And the Balers went up 4-0 after Simens came up with a steal. She put a move on her defender and hustled down the left side of the pool for the goal with 1:26 left.
Notre Dame finally got on the board on a skip shot by goalie Erin Reed with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
But the Balers kept up the pressure in the second period. Decoite scored a pair of goals on assists from Lass to give the Balers a commanding 6-1 lead. San Benito went into the half leading 6-2 after the Notre Dame goalie fired a shot across the pool.
Both teams scored two goals in the third quarter. Decoite hit the turnaround shot at 5:30, and Lass scored on a 4-meter shot with four minutes to go.
Krista Maisonneuve, who was one of the three players called up from the JV team for the finals, played the final frame for the Balers in the cage. She came up with several big saves including one shot from the 2-meter that she was just able to get a reflexive hand on to knock it off the cross bar.
Brandy Russell and Kris Plank also had the chance to play their first varsity game.
“They were nervous, and it showed,” Kisling said. “But the girls are always giving them confidence. They support them.”
In the final quarter, 2-meter Decoite scored her game-leading fourth goal even though she was heavily guarded.
Yolanda Diaz got into the scoring fray with 2:32 left on a shot that bounced off the goalie’s hands. For good measure, Lass put in her third goal as time expired.
