Hollister – This one had to hurt.
After dominating visiting Sobrato for most of the contest and taking a two-goal lead into the last 15 minutes, the San Benito girls soccer team fell apart. With their first Tri-County Athletic League victory appearing imminent, the ‘Balers suddenly allowed three goals in an eight-minute span to end up with a frustrating 4-3 loss.
“We let it slip between our fingers,” said San Benito forward Rachel Maheu. “We were thinking, ‘There’s no way they can possibly come back,’ but obviously they proved us wrong.”
The ‘Balers’ defensive meltdown began in the 68th minute when a San Benito hand-ball in the box gave the Bulldogs a penalty kick. Sobrato forward Katie Alton put the ball in the left corner of the net, just out of the reach of San Benito goalie Emily Key, to cut the ‘Balers’ lead to 3-2.
Seven minutes later, San Benito (4-6-2, 0-3-1 TCAL) fell victim to a failure to clear the ball out of its defense. Sobrato’s Ashley Grose fired a shot off a group of ‘Balers and, after securing the carom, Alton found herself the lucky recipient of an open shot. The Bulldog blasted the ball past Key to tie the game and give her team all of the momentum.
A few seconds later, the Sobrato duo hooked up again as Grose took a lead from Alton and chipped the ball over the ‘Balers’ defense and just past the fingertips of a leaping Key to provide the game-winning goal.
“We just didn’t stay focused in the game,” said San Benito head coach Mike Schurig. “Dangerous passes in our half of the field … we fell apart mentally–just mental breakdowns.”
The late mishaps ruined what had been one of the ‘Balers’ most complete team efforts of the season. Two days after tying TCAL heavyweight Live Oak on the road, San Benito looked primed to roll that momentum into a much-needed victory.
Despite allowing a goal two minutes into the game to Sobrato’s Lindsay VanKeulen, the ‘Balers played most of the first half on the Bulldogs’ half of the field. San Benito’s midfielders and forwards advanced the ball at will and generated nearly a dozen good looks at Sobrato’s net, but Bulldogs goalie Katrina Olson wouldn’t allow anything to get past her.
Finally, in the 36th minute, the ‘Balers got on the board when Maheu connected on the first of her two goals. San Benito midfielder Jacqueline Clayton pushed the ball up to her teammate, whose shot deflected off Olson and rolled toward the goal. Maheu rushed to net to tap the ball in and tie the game at 1.
Though she wasn’t the recipient of her own handiwork, ‘Balers senior Felicia Freitas was instrumental in her team’s next two scores. After the Bulldogs failed to clear the ball deep in their own territory in the 50th minute, Freitas found had an open look from the top of the box, but her shot clanged off the left post. Teammate Janessa Gillies gathered the long carom on the far right side and powered a shot over Olson.
Four minutes later, after securing the ball in front of the Bulldogs’ net, Freitas found her first shot blocked by Olson and then knocked the rebound off the crossbar. Maheu gathered the ball and slammed a point-blank shot into the right side of the net to give San Benito a 3-1 lead.
Even Sobrato (3-5-1, 1-2-0 TCAL), left reeling after the three-goal flurry, thought the ‘Balers would cruise to the victory.
“Once they started scoring, we just lost the feeling that we had a chance of winning,” said Alton.
But San Benito players suggested that the team began to play as if it had the game in the bag, despite having more than 20 minutes left in the game.
“We slacked off,” said ‘Balers center-midfielder Brittany Huth. “We started thinking, ‘We’re up 3-1. We don’t have to try as hard.'”
Maheu agreed and suggested San Benito needs to work on finishing games.
“We got cocky,” said Maheu. “[The Bulldogs] worked harder longer. They had all the energy at the end.”
