Coronado, Green Valley play to tie in girls soccer

If you ask Coronado girls soccer coach Dana Neel, Friday’s game against visiting Green Valley didn’t end in a tie. It’s just at intermission.

The Cougars and Gators played to a 1-1 tie, leaving the teams tied atop the Southeast League at 7-0-1. They play again at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Green Valley.

“We’re looking at this like we just played half of a game,” Neel said. “They’re one of the top teams, but we’re one of the top teams as well, and it shows in the tie.

“We hope to show we’re the better team when we meet them on Tuesday because it’s yet to be decided who the top team is.”

Green Valley coach Joel Parks didn’t mind sharing that sentiment.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m extremely happy to get a point on the road,” Parks said. “They’re older and more experienced. Age-wise they’ve got the experience on us.

“We made a lot of mistakes that we’ll need to correct if we think we’re going to beat them on Tuesday.”

Green Valley’s Londyn Lopez scored a goal four minutes into the contest on an assist from Kayla Varner.

The Cougars rallied after the early score and pressured Green Valley goalkeeper Kylie Lowe with eight shots on the goal in the first half.

After seven unsuccessful attempts, Coronado evened the game when Melissa Subu’s corner kick sailed into the net untouched at the 33-minute mark.

“Things can go your way sometimes,” Neel said. “We needed to get one more to win it, but it’ll happen, and it worked in our favor today.”

The Cougars kept the pressure in the second half as they took another five shots on goal but weren’t able to net another score. Coronado held a 13-5 edge in shots.

“Whenever we play Green Valley, we play at a high tempo,” Neel said. “The team that’s taking the shots is the one that is going to score the goals.

“We just need to maintain what we did, get the shots, and they’ll eventually go in.”

Parks said that he was unfazed by the Cougars’ rapid shooting and insisted his team had the right game plan to beat Coronado.

“In the first 20 minutes we were able execute,” Parks said. “After that, we really didn’t stick to our game plan in this (match), so we’ll try it again.”

Parks doesn’t see the next contest against the Cougars as make or break.

“Tuesday’s game is important,” Parks said. “(It’s) not vital.”