San Benito treated its Central Coast Section Division I playoff opener much like a boxer treats a fight: It feels out the opponent, not exerting much energy in the first rounds.
Then, bam. The boxer lands a haymaker and the flurry really gets going. The Haybalers landed that haymaker in the third quarter of Tuesday’s game against Lincoln of San Jose, scoring four goals to take a commanding lead en route to a 19-9 win to advance to the second round, where the Balers will face No. 8 Cupertino 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
“Last year we went out (in the) first round. It’s better than we did last year, so we’re really excited,” said Ceily Hepner, who scored seven times in the contest.
Grace Larson had nine goals, including four in the pivotal third quarter. Hepner scored a natural hat trick in the fourth quarter to help put the game away.
“What they did tremendously—and what they’ve done all season tremendously—is working together and communicating, but countering very, very well,” Balers coach Fred Latimore said. “We did a good job getting the ball into the set and then letting Ceily do (the) work.”
San Benito also did it while being short-handed. The Balers entered the match with just one sub available because of injuries to the team. That meant the starters had to go wire-to-wire, but San Benito paced itself well.
“Just the perseverance that these gals show, coming out and working hard,” Latimore said. “We had a tough loss Saturday to Aptos. … The girls really deserved this because of the way they played all year.”
The two teams traded goals midway through the opening period, but the Lions took a 2-1 lead at the 1:31 mark that appeared to hold as the clock ran to zero in the first period. But just before the buzzer sounded, Larson unleashed a rocket of a shot that skipped in to knot the game at two.
And that punch stunned Lincoln.
“What I’ve learned in any sport, but especially this sport, momentum can change very, very quickly,” Latimore said.
The Lions were on the ropes for the entire second quarter, finishing with just one shot on goal as the Balers continued to jab to soften up the defense. San Benito got seven shots on goal in the frame, scoring three time—twice by Larson and once by Hepner to take a 5-2 lead into halftime. And out of the break, things got interesting.
Shannon Stephens got on the score sheet just 24 seconds into the quarter before the Balers were awarded a 5-meter penalty shot, which Larson converted as part of her personal 4-0 scoring run to help the team take a 9-2 lead.
“It really set the tone for the second half for what we were trying to do. We put three quick points and separated a little bit,” Latimore said.
Lincoln’s goalie looked like she had stopped the final goal of that flurry, but Larson had so much juice on the shot, it just kept going into the backstop before the goalie could corral the rebound.
“Grace has been one of our leaders—one of our offensive leaders—all year long. She’s as fast as anybody in that pool,” Latimore said. “Once she gets going, especially off that counter, she’ll make something happen.”
Latimore said beyond the scoring total, Larson also helped draw fouls, which led to many kickouts of Lions players. Lincoln then got its second wind and started to fire back. The Lions scored three times in the span of a minute before the Balers took a time out.
Hollister got back on track, putting up three more goals by quarter’s end. In all, both teams scored 12 times on just 16 shots. San Benito kept the pressure on into the fourth, scoring seven more times to win in a runaway.
