Frustrated with a sub-par performance earlier this season that allowed Sierra to tie Manteca in girls Valley Oak League soccer, Buffaloes coach Justin Coenenberg channeled that frustration Friday night and ended up with a 6-1 win over the Timberwolves behind a hat trick from Alexia Alva at Woodward Park.
“Our play against them last time started our motivation for tonight,” Coenenberg said. “We missed so many opportunities that first game. We could have put that game away in the first half and we let them hang around, and because of that it ended in a tie. And we were very disappointed in the way we played.
“The next morning there was a picture in the paper of them running down our bench giving us a buffs (horns) down symbol after they scored the tying goal. Our girls were not happy with that and that’s been talked about on a
Manteca used more than bulletin-board material to ready itself for this game, the Buffaloes also adjusted their game formation.
“We did tweak the formation a little bit and make a couple of changes,” Coenenberg said. “We moved some girls around.
“I think we were just getting a little stagnant, and so by changing the formation I think that kind of sparked some excitement. It was something different, and we came out and played really well. I couldn’t be happier or more proud of the way we played.”
Alva’s three goals came on assists from Joanna Roa and Kailee Jackson along with an unassisted score. She now has moved into third place in the Sac-Joaquin Section with 33 goals and leads the
VOL in scoring.
“It feels good,” Alva said. “It feels good to be the top scorer in the VOL.
“It felt good when we put so many in the back of the net tonight. We were all looking forward to this game and we were all fired up.”
Jackson scored on an assist from Alva, Makyla Spencer added a goal on a penalty kick and Sienna Jones rounded out the scoring parade for the Buffaloes (4-1-2 VOL, 19-1-3 overall) when she scored on an assist from Gabriela Ramos.
“I feel like I work very well with Alexia (Alva),” Jackson said. “That first goal is what we needed to hype us up and get us into it.
“I am very appreciative of her because she makes perfect runs and I love setting her up.”
Sierra (2-2-3, 12-5-6) got on the board when Zoe Sutton fed Katie Machado for a score with 12 minutes left in the game to make the score 4-1.
“This was definitely not what we had planned for today,” Timberwolves coach Manuel Pires said. “But that’s how these games go.
“They definitely showed more desire than we did. We started good the first 10 minutes but as soon as they scored their second goal our team did not pick up the intensity and desire we needed to turn the score around.”
On Monday night at 6:15 Manteca hosts Central Catholic at Woodward Park and the Timberwolves host Kimball.
Junior varsity
Sierra 8, Manteca 0
Payton Duarte tallied two goals and three assists for the Timberwolves.
Mikayla Mercier added two goals, Shayla Cline a goal and three assists and a goal apiece for Mikaela Delgado, Abigail Fraser and Kylee Pimentel. Ivy Sutton and Kaylee Rodriguez each had an assist.
Sierra’s Amaya Pacheco tallied four saves.
