The Anzar girls’ soccer team’s winning run through Coastal
Athletic League play finally came to a halt on Thursday after it
dropped a 2-1 match to defending league champion Gonzales.
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
The Anzar girls’ soccer team’s winning streak through Coastal Athletic League play finally came to a halt on Thursday after it dropped a 2-1 match to defending league champion Gonzales.
The visiting Spartans pocketed two unanswered goals, with the eventual game-winner coming in the 50th minute of the second half. Anzar had its chances, head coach Carlos Flores said, but simply couldn’t find the equalizer.
“We had five chances in the last five minutes,” Flores added. “We had a lot of chances to tie it up, even to win it.
“But it’s a lesson well learned. We still have another game against Gonzales.”
Although Thursday’s loss doesn’t necessarily hurt the Hawks now, it’s sure to keep the CAL standings interesting moving forward.
Anzar is now 5-1 in the CAL, 7-5-1 overall. It still controls first place in the league, as it holds the tiebreaker over Pacific Collegiate, which is also 5-1. But another game against Pacific Collegiate still looms on Feb. 7, while another game against Gonzales, which is now 4-2 in the CAL, is slated for Feb. 11.
Anzar actually grabbed an early lead on Gonzales Thursday, when Jessica Stofer pushed the Hawks to a 1-0 lead off an assist by Brianna Miltimore.
But in the final minute of the first half, the Spartans knotted the game at 1-all off a free kick.
“And the girl put it in the back of the net,” said Flores, noting the momentum shift toward the Spartans heading into the final 40 minutes.
Gonzales deposited the game winner some 20 minutes later.
Anzar will look to rebound next week when it visits Kirby on Tuesday and hosts Marina on Thursday. Both matches are scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Although the Hawks defeated Kirby by a 4-0 margin on Jan. 7, the private Santa Cruz school is fresh off a 2-1 victory over Gonzales last week.
TEAM 1 2 F
GONZ 1 1 2
ANZR 1 0 1
