If someone only looked at the final score and saw Mountain View beat Santa Clara 4-0, they might think that the game wasn’t very competitive. That certainly wasn’t the case on Saturday afternoon as the underdog Bruins played a lot better than the 4-0 score would indicate. While the Spartans showed they were the more skilled team, the Bruins hung tough in the first half. The score could have very easily been 1-1 instead of 2-0 at halftime. Less than 10 minutes into the game, the Spartans were awarded an extremely questionable penalty kick. They would convert the shot to go up 1-0.
“One of our girls got hit from behind [seconds earlier] and that’s what bothered me more than anything,” acknowledged Santa Clara Head Coach Brad Comstock on the PK. “It’s not that [the referee] made a horse [manure] PK call, but if he didn’t miss the first call, I wouldn’t even have to worry about the PK.”
“I didn’t think that was a foul,” concurred Bruins’ senior defender Ysela Baluyot. “Jordan [Lesnick] barely touched her, it should not have been a PK.”
While the Bruins didn’t get a lot of good looks towards the Spartans’ goal, Baluyot helped create one of their best opportunities when she stepped up from her center back spot and made a nice run down the left sideline. She then made a nice chip pass into the box towards a teammate, but the Bruins weren’t able to get a good shot off.
“It is huge for us having [Ysela] back from injury,” noted coach Comstock. “The first couple games you could tell she had missed some time, but the last two games you could definitely see she’s back to being her normal self, which is huge for us.”
The Bruins also had a couple of opportunities off of set pieces in the first half. Lesnick would take both of them from well out. One was played into the box while the other was shot wide left.
Mountain View would score their second goal in the 28th minute and proceeded to add two more in the second half. However, despite allowing four goals, the Bruins’ best player on the afternoon was arguably their goalkeeper Lindsey Crocker. The sophomore had big shoes to fill this season taking over for last year’s CCS-winning keeper Samantha Coelho, who is now the Bruins’ goalie coach. In the first half Crocker did well to stay disciplined on a sneaky shot attempt that initially looked like it would be a cross into the box. In the second half she perfectly timed her challenge on a dangerous one-on-one opportunity when the Spartans’ forward played the ball just a hair too far, allowing Crocker an opportunity to cut down the angle.
“I think the last two games she’s played really well,” agreed Baluyot on her keeper. “She was calling out for the ball, she was really confident. I’m definitely going to tell her she played a good game.”
“The last two games she has been more confident,” concurred coach Comstock. “Whether or not that is because I brought up the JV goalie to put a little pressure on…[that I don’t know], but Lindsey played a lot better today.”
The loss drops the Bruins’ league record to 1-4. They will next play at home with a rematch against Mountain View on Friday.