The fourth minute is proving to be a special one in San
Benito-Sobrato girls soccer showdowns this season.
Hollister – The fourth minute is proving to be a special one in San Benito-Sobrato girls soccer showdowns this season.
In last Friday’s meeting in the Burlingame Thanksgiving Invitational, the Haybalers scored in the fourth minute and went on to win 2-1.
The teams squared off again Thursday in non-league action at San Benito, and this time the Bulldogs found the back of the net in the fourth minute and it propelled them to a 3-0 win.
“It was huge,” first-year Sobrato coach Stephanie Pearson said of the early goal. “I don’t think it changed the overall outcome, but it gave us momentum and momentum is everything.”
The Bulldogs (2-2-1) charged out quickly and Ashley Grose put a shot on net in the game’s first minute that San Benito goalkeeper Emily Key saved.
Not long after, senior Katie Alton stepped in front of a San Benito entry pass in front of the goal and controlled the ball and fired into the left side of the net.
“I was so happy to get that goal,” Alton said. “We knew if we didn’t score early enough we might’ve lost.”
The ‘Balers had their best chance to tie the game in the 18th minute when they were awarded a penalty kick, but senior Brittany Huth’s shot rolled past the right post to keep the Bulldogs on top.
“That hurt us,” San Benito coach Mike Shurig said. “That would’ve tied it and would’ve changed the half. But penalty kicks aren’t easy.”
The ‘Balers nearly tied it again in the 36th minute when freshman Sophie Coelho got her foot on a loose ball in front of the net and her shot rolled dangerously past an empty left side of the goal before going wide.
The game stayed 1-0 until midway through the second half.
Grose, who was the Bulldogs’ leading scorer last season and was making her season debut with the cross country season now over, fired a cross pass to Kayla Nishimatsu, another cross country runner making her season debut, and she scored to make it 2-0.
San Benito nearly got that goal back in the 73rd minute when Huth fired a cross pass to Janessa Gillies, but Sobrato goalkeeper Katrina Olsen made a point-blank save to preserve the shutout.
Three minutes later, the Bulldogs put the game away when Alton assisted a Grose goal to make it 3-0.
The ‘Balers started the game short-handed, with four starters sitting out the first 15 minutes for missing practice.
“And they had that goal in the first five (minutes),” Shurig said. “Once we started going into the flow of the game, we were already behind.”
