LATE GAME HEROICS
Smith goal, defense carry Stockdale past Fresno-Edison 1-0 in D-I girls soccer playoff opener
Time after time, scoring opportunities went awry for the Stockdale girls soccer team in its postseason opener Wednesday night.
But with the defense doing its part, senior Taylor Smith wouldn’t let this last chance slip away.
Smith took a perfect corner kick pass from Alejandra Andalon and drove home a header with just under six minutes to play, and the seventh-seeded Mustangs shutdown one of the state’s top scorers in a 1-0 win over No. 10 Fresno-Edison in the first round of the Division I Central Section girls soccer playoffs.
The Mustangs will travel to face second-seeded Clovis at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, after the Cougars topped Paso Robles 8-0 on Wednesday.
After Edison goalie Carmen Rodriguez initially got her hand on Smith’s shot, it appeared Stockdale, which also missed an uncontested free kick with 13 minutes to play, would come away empty-handed yet again.
But Rodriguez was unable to knock the ball down, as it squirted past her into the net for the game’s only goal.
“Honestly, I turned my body and was facing the goal, and I saw it hit the keeper’s hands and I was like ‘Dang, I missed it,’” Smith said.
“And then it went right through and it felt like something lifted off my shoulder.”
Despite the offensive struggles, the Mustangs, who have only allowed three goals this season, relied on their defense again, shutting down one of the state’s best offensive players in Edison sophomore Ava Medrano.
Medrano came into the night having scored 25 goals, but was unable to make a dent in a Stockdale defense that often dedicated as many as four defenders to her. And anytime the Tigers were able to get a shot off, goalie Alexandra Jacinto was there to knock it away.
Stockdale was able to do this without Kristin Ramirez, the defending SWYL Defensive Player of the Year, who is out with a
broken collarbone.
To advance further in the postseason, Mustang coach Lorne Howlett says his team will have to be much sharper offensively than it was Wednesday night, but is happy to lean on his defense while waiting for the scoring to come.
“We didn’t play well,” Howlett said. “But you have to go win the games that aren’t good. I can hang our hat on the fact that we didn’t give up any goals, gave up minimal shots. We did enough to go get a 1-0 win and if you do that four times in the playoffs, you’ve done a good job.”