Keeper Anissa Stanton makes game-winning save
— off her face — as Balers survive Alisal 2-1
Keeper Anissa Stanton’s decision to come sprinting out of the
net on Tuesday was instinct. That much was obvious.
But her point-blank save on a rocket shot by Alisal’s Daniela
Armenta
— in the final minute of regulation, no less — appeared to be
made with the palms of her hands. But it wasn’t.
”
That was my face,
”
Stanton confirmed afterwards.
Keeper Anissa Stanton makes game-winning save — off her face — as Balers survive Alisal 2-1
Keeper Anissa Stanton’s decision to come sprinting out of the net on Tuesday was instinct. That much was obvious.
But her point-blank save on a rocket shot by Alisal’s Daniela Armenta — in the final minute of regulation, no less — appeared to be made with the palms of her hands. But it wasn’t.
“That was my face,” Stanton confirmed afterwards.
Despite controlling a two-goal lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game, the San Benito girls’ soccer nearly suffered an agonizing, league-altering tie to the visiting Trojans Tuesday. But while Alisal did cut the Balers’ lead in half in the 76th minute, Stanton’s last-minute, knee-sliding, mug-shot save — or, shot to the mug — managed to preserve a 2-1 win for San Benito.
“My coach told me, ‘You want to take out their angle,'” said Stanton, who pulled away from the net when the speedy Armenta split a pair of San Benito defenders before taking a shot on net.
Stanton made the save toward the 18, and the final whistle was blown less than a minute later.
“If they did shoot, I could get to it,” Stanton added. “I didn’t hesitate.”
Stanton’s save not only ensured the Balers would emerge from the game victorious — improving San Benito to 4-0-1 in the Tri-County Athletic League — but it also put a sweeter twist on what was an otherwise ugly game.
San Benito came out flat, head coach Ben Alvarez said afterward, despite the Balers grabbing a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute. The team didn’t start to settle in until the tail end of the first half. But a feisty second half by Alisal, and its deficit-cutting goal in the 76th minute, made things much more interesting than Alvarez believed they should have been.
“We’ll take the win, but it was not what we’ve been working on,” Alvarez said. “It was ugly.”
At times, Alvarez felt, there was a timidness to the Balers, who were not stepping to the ball and were losing out on 50-50 chances. And although San Benito dominated possession in the first half, the head coach felt his team was playing “a little too comfortable,” eventually leading to several non-starters earning playing time as a result.
“We’ve got to be first to the ball,” the coach added. “Never quit running.”
Even for its slow start, though, San Benito still managed to find the back of the net first. Following a pass by Hannah Cobb, Daniela Ocampo moved the ball down the right sideline before crossing it to Karly Leon, who punched it in on one bounce in the 23rd minute.
The lead held until halftime, and was later added to when freshman Kristen Callanta deposited a much-needed insurance goal in the 68th minute — the first official goal of her varsity career.
“That was a nice shot,” Alvarez said.
Receiving a pass from Sara Yamasaki in the middle of the field, the left forward dribbled into the Alisal box before lacing a shot from just inside the 18. The attempt sailed high, but nevertheless managed to find a spot in between the Trojan keeper’s fingertips and the crossbar.
“I thought the goalie was going to get to it,” Callanta said after the game. The first-year forward was surprised the shot even went in after noticing the height of Alisal’s outstretched keeper.
Callanta’s first goal could not have come at a more important time for San Benito, too. After Armenta received a long-ball pass from midfield, the Alisal senior capitalized on a San Benito miscommunication and pushed through a pair of Baler defenders before lifting a shot from just outside the 18, and just over Stanton’s outstretched hands, to make it to a 2-1 game in the 76th minute.
The lead held until the final whistle, though, aided by Stanton’s sliding save.
Defender Nicole Yost said the Trojans played a more physical brand of soccer when trailing by two goals, while the Balers played a little too overconfident in the second half, “thinking we had it in the bag.”
“We’ve got to take every team seriously,” Yost said. “We’ve got to give every team 100 percent.”
