SUNRISE GIRLS SOCCER: Short-handed Foothill adjusts, blanks Las Vegas
Holding onto a one-goal lead while playing short-handed for 57 minutes is a difficult task.
On Tuesday, Foothill’s girls soccer team actually expanded that lead, defeating Las Vegas 3-0 in the Sunrise Region quarterfinals at Heritage Park.
“I believe the girls had a lot of intensity, they had a lot of heart,” Foothill coach Cynthia Guzman said. “And the passion that they have for this game really came up as winners. Playing a man down at 1-0, it was still anybody’s game. We didn’t have the win.”
Foothill (11-4-3) plays Coronado (13-7) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday at Heritage Park.
The Falcons led 1-0 when goalkeeper Marisa Milne received a red card after taking down Las Vegas’ Ashlee Jordan on a breakaway. That left Foothill playing a player down for the final 57 minutes and forced Guzman to put the team’s top scorer, Katherine Ballou, in goal for the final 17 minutes of the first half.
Ballou responded by stopping Jordan’s free kick from just beyond the penalty box after the red card, and she had another save to help the Falcons take the 1-0 lead into halftime.
Guzman put Ballou back at midfield in the second half, and the move paid off. The Falcons took control of the ball early in the half, firing six shots in the first 11 minutes of the half before Las Vegas (9-9-1) had taken a shot.
“I wasn’t too concerned putting her in goal, because I knew we had enough players that play to feet and move the ball well on the outside,” Guzman said. “But definitely once I put her back on the field in the second half, things changed for us. And we just kept the momentum, we kept the fight, we kept the desire.
“And we didn’t want to go home. We wanted to show up again tomorrow at practice.”
Ballou gave Foothill a 2-0 advantage when she took a pass from Jillian Vigil and hit a right-footed shot inside the far post with about 13 minutes remaining.
Vigil tucked a free kick just under the crossbar from just outside the penalty box four minutes later to push the lead to 3-0.
“Katie Ballou’s a very key player in distributing the ball and shots on goal,” Guzman said. “She’s got a vision for the field. Her and Jillian work magic in the middle.”
Reserve goalkeeper Natalie Williams came on in the second half and made two saves to preserve the shutout.
Silverado 4, Eldorado 0 — Victoria Bravo scored twice to lead the Skyhawks past the Sundevils (5-13-1) in a quarterfinal.
Bravo scored in the game’s 23rd minute to give Silverado the early lead, and Victoria Sanchez added a goal 10 minutes later as the Skyhawks led 2-0 at the half.
Bravo ran onto a loose ball and beat the goalkeeper to the far post in the 53rd minute for the final margin, and Nicole Wertzler tacked on a goal with about a minute to play for Silverado.
Mikaila Becze had the shutout for the Skyhawks, who play Green Valley (15-4-4) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Coronado 6, Liberty 0 — Taylor Kornieck had two goals and three assists as the Cougars routed the Patriots.
Michaela Morris had three goals, and Ashley Thomas scored a goal for the Cougars, who led 4-0 at halftime after Kornieck slipped a free kick just inside the left post in the final minute of the half.
Shannon Heenan was in goal for the shutout.
Green Valley 8, Valley 1 — Alexis Kirson had three goals and an assist to help the Gators roll to victory over the Vikings.
Sydney Holborrow had a goal and two assists, and Shestan Lynam added a goal and an assist for Green Valley, which led 3-1 at the half.
Victoria Whitehouse, Chela Anglin and Isabel Madrid also scored for the Gators.
Lillian Godinez scored for Valley (8-8-1).