EYL Soccer Clash: Panthers sweep rivals
It was all Panthers Friday evening with both Porterville High School girls and boys soccer teams downing rival Monache at Jacob Rankin Stadium in chilly East Yosemite League games played back-to-back.
The Panthers (3-81, 2-3 EYL) girls team kicked off the night with a 1-0 win over the Marauders (2-8-2, 1-4 EYL) to go 2-0 on the week after shutting out the Tigers of Delano at home 3-0 on Tuesday. Porterville (11-6-2, 3-1-1 EYL) boys followed up with a 3-1 victory against Monache (4-12-5, 2-3) to seal the Panthers’ sweep.
“Beating Monache — they’re our rival school — so for us it’s like winning the Super Bowl,” said PHS girls coach Cruz Rivera. “It’s awesome, we have a great camaraderie. Even my assistants, we get along with the Monache coaches. We know each other, we’re all family, but for those, we tell the girls, for those 80 minutes we’re rivals. We want to go all out.”
And go all out Porterville did, dominating the ball for nearly the entire game.
The Marauders started off strong with Zoe Rios, Jessica Madrigal and Jiselle Batres taking shots in the first 10 minutes of the game. Madrigal and Batres opportunities were stopped by Porterville goalie Alexia Hernandez while Rios’ shot bounced of the football post behind the goal.
“That was pretty intense at times, oh my gosh,” MHS girls head coach Tino Rodriguez said. “I was pleased with the players, the way they played in that. They kept some intensity up. We didn’t get as many opportunities as we definitely would’ve liked, but, you know what? They fought, they fought hard.”
For the rest of the first half Porterville’s Jaylene Fernandez led the Panthers’ offensive charge while Monache goalkeeper Briley German put up a great fight in the net.
Porterville’s lone goal came late in the first half when Fernandez’s shot was blocked by a diving German, who then — while still on the ground — blocked another Panthers’ shot attempt before Porterville’s Jennifer Ruiz-diaz was able to get the rebound past German.
The Panthers had two chances to score before Ruiz-diaz’s score after being awarded penalty kicks in the 31st and 39th minute of the first half. On the first one, German blocked Valeria Baca’s shot out before the Marauders’ defense kicked the ball out of play. Danielle Rivas attempted the second penalty kick, but missed wide right to end the half.
Both teams’ defense played outstanding with Cruz calling his “solid”. The Panthers picked up clutch plays from Rivas and Hannah Watkins — who kept the Marauders’ offense from crossing midfield for much of the second half.
Besides saying German played “amazing”, Rodriguez pointed out a strong outing from Alondra Mendez, Kayleen Garcia, Leslie Orozco and Gabriela Vasquez on defense for the Marauders as well.
Both teams have tough schedules ahead, facing strong Tulare teams in the second round of EYL play beginning Wednesday, Jan. 24. Porterville travels to undefeated Mission Oak (14-3, 5-0 EYL) while Monache hosts Tulare Union (14-61, 3-2 EYL). Both games are at 6 p.m.
BOYS
Panthers complete comeback
It was Monache who came out striking first with a goal 10 minutes into the boys game on a header from Carlos Magana after the Marauders’ Gabriel Hernandez’s free kick was initially headed toward midfield by Porterville.
“Yeah we knew coming against them was going to be tough,” PHS head coach Eddie Gutierrez said. “Their record, not great, but that doesn’t mean nothing when we play Monache. They got a nice goal, I couldn’t tell if it was offsides or not, but it was a nice finish by the kid and the boys didn’t hang their heads. We kept creating some chances and towards the end of the first half we got a couple back.”
Brought up from the junior varsity to replace striker Rogelio Bedolla who recently signed with a third division professional team in Mexico according to Gutierrez, Porterville’s Edwin Gill scored the Panthers’ first goal in the 27th
minute of the first half after Monache’s goalie Miguel Rolon was still down after stopping a Porterville shot attempt that was blocked toward Gill.
Porterville took the lead seven minutes later with a shot from only a few yards out by Kevin Barajas.
Abraham Suarez scored the final goal of the game from about 15 yards out on the left side of the field with less than five minutes to play in the second half.
In the 12th minute of the second half, Porterville’s Arturo Gutierrez went up for the ball with a Monache player and was flipped over, landing on the back of his neck. Gutierrez was down for at least three minutes before walking off the field under his own strength. He did not return to the game.
“Second half was back and forth, but we sealed the game off towards the end there,” Gutierrez said. “Pretty scary injury, but the boys, you know hats off to them — they played good. Monache did too. It’s only halfway through and we know we got a lot more work to do. The kids are battling, they’re working hard in training, it’s all I could ask for.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 23 Porterville hosts Mission Oak (11-4-2, 4-1) at 6 p.m. The Hawks are tied for first with Tulare Western (8-6-3, 4-1 EYL) in the EYL with their only loss coming at home in a 1-0 shutout by the Panthers.