Three out of the four goals scored Wednesday night came off of rebounds, and in the end, Sierra and visiting East Union played to a 2-2 draw in girls Valley Oak League soccer action at Daniel Teicheira Memorial Stadium.
Jenna Campbell scored both of the goals for East Union (1-1-2 VOL, 1-1-2 overall) with the first coming barely a minute into the game on a long rebound shot. The second came on yet another rebound in the 58th minute to put the Lancers back in front 2-1.
“We worked really hard tonight,” Campbell said. “It was disappointing because it shouldn’t have ended in a tie, but even though it was disappointing a tie is better than a loss.
“Most of the times the balls won’t come back at you, but it is good to be there when they do and you get rewarded for it.”
In the 50th minute, Lindsey Rose evened the score at 1-1 for the Timberwolves (0-2-2, 10-5-5) with a 30-yard arcing shot straight up the middle. With eight minutes remaining, Sierra’s Hailey Cruz played a shot off the right post and got it back into the net to tie the score at 2-2.
“Lindsey (Rose) had a beautiful shot,” Cruz said. “It hit off the post and I was just in the right place at the right time and shot it with my left foot.”
Lancers coach Jason Silva knows how tense the crosstown games can be.
“It was a tough, physical game tonight,” Silva said. “We needed the win and Sierra needed the win, so we knew it was going to be close. It always is between us. We started off with a lot of intensity and got the quick goal, and halfway through the first half we felt the momentum slipping from us.
“Games like this you have to be able to play complete games. Toward the end of the first half and half of the second half, we just didn’t want it as much — they wanted it a little bit more. They got the tie. This is definitely something to build off of because this is going to be a tight league, and every game is going to count.”
The final five minutes were played almost entirely on the Lancers’ side of the field.
“We had some opportunities after we tied the game when Cruz did a good job off of the post,” Sierra coach Manuel Pires said. “The last four or five minutes we definitely had our chances but it is what it is.
“Rivalry games are always going to come down to the last second. That’s what we expected and that’s what we saw.”
On Friday night East Union travels to Tracy to face Kimball at 6:15 and at 6:45 the Timberwolves travel to Modesto to take on Central Catholic.
Junior varsity
Sierra 9, East Union 0
Kaylee Rodriguez led the Timberwolves with a hat trick and an assist and Abigail Fraser dished out three assists.
Sierra’s Kylee Pimentel (assist), Haylee Zeiher, Shayla Cline, Peyton Duarte, Ivy Sutton and Abigail Garcia each added a goal and Mikayla Mercier chipped in an assist.
