It appears to be a four-team race for the title and three postseason berths the way the Valley Oak League girls soccer season is shaping up.
Manteca High has a chance to be the fifth team in the mix this week, which head coach Justin Coenenberg calls “hell week,” but the Buffaloes took a step back in their 3-1 loss to conference-leading Oakdale Monday at Guss Schmiedt Field.
All goals were scored in the first half, including three in a 3-minute span.
“I’m not really disappointed in the girls by any means, they battled,” Coenenberg said. “It just seemed like in every one of our big games we have 10 to 15 minutes where we play very poorly and give up some goals just off some silly mistakes.
“For the rest of the game it was a very good game that went back and forth.”
It was a big match for both sides involved.
For Oakdale (5-0-1, 10-0-4 overall), it maintained its lead over East Union, Kimball and Sierra with the victory. The Mustangs will play a make-up game with upstart Kimball on Friday. The Jaguars of Tracy’s newest school have beaten Manteca and battled defending champ Sierra and East Union to ties.
“This puts us in the driver’s seat a little bit,” Oakdale coach Alfredo Quiroga said.
Manteca (3-3, 8-6-1) — which next faces East Union Wednesday and Kimball next Monday, April 11 — could have been in the driver’s seat early in Monday’s contest.
Just moments after the initial kickoff, forward Airenne Curry took the Oakdale defense by surprise by bolting free down the left side and into the penalty area. Curry’s open shot was pushed wide right.
Just 3 minutes later Curry struck again, this time charging from the right side. Oakdale keeper Morgan Kinyon deflected the hard shot, and Curry missed the second-chance opportunity wide right yet again.
The Mustangs hadn’t attempted a shot yet, but they took over from there. Jill Kahler’s first two shots were saved by Manteca’s Jimi Guibor but connected for the next two in the 7th and 8th minutes.
Manteca sliced the deficit in half a minute later when Sammie Morris’ head shot off Esmeralda Cuenca’s cornerkick settled into the right panel.
Oakdale’s Kerri Fuerstein finished off a nice sequence started by Kahler in the 26th minute. Fuerstein earlier assisted both of Kahler’s goals, with Jenna Micheletti playing a part in the first one.
All three of Oakdale’s scores came right up the middle of the Manteca defense.
“We’re usually a better second-half team, so our focus has been jumping out on team and we did,” Coenenberg said. “We were the ones applying the pressure, and then they scored the one. That took the wind out of our sails a little bit.”
Manteca had chances in the second half with three open-net opportunities, but Kinyon single-handedly stuffed all three by charging at the attacking player, twice doing so outside of the penalty box.
It was a match otherwise dominated by Oakdale, which enjoyed a 22-12 shot advantage (12-7 on frame). Guibor certainly did her part in keeping Manteca in it until the final minutes despite Oakdale’s relenting attack. Six of her nine saves came in the second half.
“It was probably one of her better games by far, our youth and inexperience just shows up sometimes,” said Coenenberg, later adding that he has four starters out. “She’s done that pretty much all year. I think we’re just kind of used to it because that’s just what she does — she makes some big saves and makes great plays.”
Manteca High has a chance to be the fifth team in the mix this week, which head coach Justin Coenenberg calls “hell week,” but the Buffaloes took a step back in their 3-1 loss to conference-leading Oakdale Monday at Guss Schmiedt Field.
All goals were scored in the first half, including three in a 3-minute span.
“I’m not really disappointed in the girls by any means, they battled,” Coenenberg said. “It just seemed like in every one of our big games we have 10 to 15 minutes where we play very poorly and give up some goals just off some silly mistakes.
“For the rest of the game it was a very good game that went back and forth.”
It was a big match for both sides involved.
For Oakdale (5-0-1, 10-0-4 overall), it maintained its lead over East Union, Kimball and Sierra with the victory. The Mustangs will play a make-up game with upstart Kimball on Friday. The Jaguars of Tracy’s newest school have beaten Manteca and battled defending champ Sierra and East Union to ties.
“This puts us in the driver’s seat a little bit,” Oakdale coach Alfredo Quiroga said.
Manteca (3-3, 8-6-1) — which next faces East Union Wednesday and Kimball next Monday, April 11 — could have been in the driver’s seat early in Monday’s contest.
Just moments after the initial kickoff, forward Airenne Curry took the Oakdale defense by surprise by bolting free down the left side and into the penalty area. Curry’s open shot was pushed wide right.
Just 3 minutes later Curry struck again, this time charging from the right side. Oakdale keeper Morgan Kinyon deflected the hard shot, and Curry missed the second-chance opportunity wide right yet again.
The Mustangs hadn’t attempted a shot yet, but they took over from there. Jill Kahler’s first two shots were saved by Manteca’s Jimi Guibor but connected for the next two in the 7th and 8th minutes.
Manteca sliced the deficit in half a minute later when Sammie Morris’ head shot off Esmeralda Cuenca’s cornerkick settled into the right panel.
Oakdale’s Kerri Fuerstein finished off a nice sequence started by Kahler in the 26th minute. Fuerstein earlier assisted both of Kahler’s goals, with Jenna Micheletti playing a part in the first one.
All three of Oakdale’s scores came right up the middle of the Manteca defense.
“We’re usually a better second-half team, so our focus has been jumping out on team and we did,” Coenenberg said. “We were the ones applying the pressure, and then they scored the one. That took the wind out of our sails a little bit.”
Manteca had chances in the second half with three open-net opportunities, but Kinyon single-handedly stuffed all three by charging at the attacking player, twice doing so outside of the penalty box.
It was a match otherwise dominated by Oakdale, which enjoyed a 22-12 shot advantage (12-7 on frame). Guibor certainly did her part in keeping Manteca in it until the final minutes despite Oakdale’s relenting attack. Six of her nine saves came in the second half.
“It was probably one of her better games by far, our youth and inexperience just shows up sometimes,” said Coenenberg, later adding that he has four starters out. “She’s done that pretty much all year. I think we’re just kind of used to it because that’s just what she does — she makes some big saves and makes great plays.”
