It is not often that a tie is as good as a win, but Monday night Sierra clinched the outright girls Valley Oak League soccer crown with a 2-2 tie against second place East Union at Daniel Teicheira Memorial Stadium.
The Timberwolves (10-0-1 VOL, 22-2-2 overall) entered the contest with a five-point lead and with one game left to go maintain a five-point lead over the Lancers (8-1-2, 14-2-3).
“We have made it so far without losing any games in our league and that is not an easy thing to do,” Sierra coach Manual Pires said. “We told the girls in a rivalry game anything could happen so you have to be prepared to play the whole 80 minutes but we were not. We started strong but East Union came back pretty strong with two goals and we were very sloppy with some of the mistakes we made that they capitalized on.
“We were able to come back and tie it and in the second half I thought we had a few more opportunities than they did but we were not very efficient in finishing.
After falling behind 1-0 early, East Union bounced back with an unassisted goal in the 13th minute by Jasmin Mejia and a rebound by Fatima Jauregui in the 27th minute to go ahead 2-1.
“Tying this game may help us move up in the rankings,” Lancers coach Carlos Gasper said. “Maybe we can get a playoff game at home.
“They are just a tough team and it was great to get the tie.”
Jadyn Shinn had a part in both Timberwolves goals scoring the first just two minutes in on an assist by Tiann Cello. Then, with four minutes left to go in the first half Shinn blasted a direct kick that was too hot to handle and Juliana Rodriguez came in and fired the ball into the net for what proved to be the final goal of the game.
“This definitely feels good,” Shinn said. “We have worked hard all season and this game was a tough battle. We put everything we had into it and was good that we got at least the tie.
“The feeling of winning the VOL is amazing because we deserve it.”
Lancers goalie Malia Allen had a busy night with nine saves.
“When they are coming at me like that and I get so many shots on I just have to calm my nerves,” Allen said. “That’s my biggest thing and when I don’t that’s what knocks me out of a game.
“Today I just pushed my nerves aside so I could focus on the game.”
Callie Crain had three saves for Sierra with her most spectacular coming on a long rainbow shot with 11 minutes left in the game than she punched over the crossbar.
“That could of easily been the winning goal for them,” Pires said of Crain’s highlight-reel save. “She made the right decision to push the ball over the crossbar. That was a great save and to me that was a game changer.”
The Timberwolves and East Union close out the league schedule Wednesday on the road with Sierra traveling to Weston Ranch at 3 p.m. and the Lancers going across town to Manteca at 6:45 p.m.
Lathrop 7, Los Banos 0
With a game left to go in the Western Athletic Conference the Spartans (9-4 WAC, 7-4-1) skipped over idle Johansen into second place by a point thanks to the shutout win over the Tigers (record unavailable).
Kassandra Ceja carried the load for Lathrop with five goals and Kayla Deanda added two with two assists. Aryana Jones, Wendy Martinez, Isa Paniagua and Jayna Rodriguez each had an assist. Harleen Bal notched seven saves.
“We seemed to play more as a team keeping the ball on our feet longer,” Spartans coach Jose Montes said. “Our possession is getting better and the attacks from the back are happening.”
Johansen faces first-place Beyer on Wednesday and Lathrop travels to Mountain House.
Junior Varsity
East Union 3, Sierra 1
Thania Valencia scored two goals for the Lancers and East Union recorded its other goal on an own goal by the Timberwolves.
Malya Yamamoto scored the lone Sierra goal.
