BCHS, Stockdale win to advance in Central Section girls playoffs

Heading into Wednesday’s opening-round of the Central Section Division IV girls soccer playoffs, Bakersfield Christian coach Derek Watson and his staff decided to change things up a bit.

The 17-year Eagles coach started a different lineup to give a few players an opportunity to start, while also having more firepower off the bench.

But just 10 minutes into their match against visiting South High, Watson was forced to reshuffle his lineup following an injury to starting midfielder Mikaela Bidart.

The resulting substitutions led to two first-half goals during a 12-minute stretch, energizing No. 5-seeded BCHS to a 2-0 victory over the No. 12 South.

“That was kind of neat,” Watson said. “We subbed in a couple of girls that usually start, and we scored a goal on the first touch we got. Maybe within a minute. We were just trying to keep a rotation of girls in because of the heat, and it’s the playoffs, so I want to keep the girls fresh. But they played well.”

The Eagles (8-3), who have won four straight, got things started early.

After Bidart rolled an ankle and left the game as a precaution, Watson made a few subs, most notably bringing in sophomores Abby Buys and Ella Wilson.

Buys, who typically starts as a defender for Bakersfield Christian, was inserted as a forward, and immediately paid dividends. She took a ball that bounced past a South defender, and then lofted the ball over the South’s goalie for a 1-0 lead.

“She usually plays center-back, so she usually plays defense, but once in a while I try to move her around to let her play something different,” Watson said.

“I think she enjoys it because she mostly plays in the back all the time. It gives her an opportunity to shine a little bit.”

Just 10 minutes later, Wilson pushed the ball around the corner toward the side of the box and put the ball into the net to cap the night’s scoring midway through the first half.

“I know the quality of players they are, they’re good players,” Watson said.

“They don’t usually come off the bench, it was kind of a last-minute decision to bring them off the bench.

So I wasn’t too surprised to get the goals from them because they’re really good players. It was just a decision we made as coaches to change it up a bit, because we have decent players across the board I think that can contribute.”

South, which was coming off a 1-0 victory over North in its regular-season finale, ends its year at 2-8.

“I knew they had some pretty good players,” Watson said. “We just felt like we played a much tougher schedule than everybody else in our division, so we feel like we’re ready to play consistently at a higher level. Just because we pretty much played all D-IIs this season, good D-IIs, so we felt pretty prepared.

“We could have scored some more

goals tonight. We didn’t really finish the way we wanted to. The good thing is that we got a lot of playing time for a lot of girls. So it was good.”

With the victory, BCHS advances to play at No. 4 Orosi, which defeated No. 13 Fresno 4-2 in their first-round Division IV game.

“We just wanted to get some momentum, get the first one out of the way and focus on one game at a time; do the best we can,” Watson said. “I mean with a really weird season … It was kinda chaotic at times. Girls are doing multiple sports, so it’s been tough. But being in the playoffs is fun and it’s been pretty exciting that we’ve been able to do it. Now it’s just play one game at a time and play every game as well as we can.”