Tracy scored two second-half goals Saturday to force penalty kicks against tournament host Manteca and the Bulldogs came away with a 2-2 (3-1) win for the championship of the Buffalo Cup at Guss Schmiedt Field.
“To be honest I was pretty confident,” Buffaloes coach Justin Coenenberg said. “We knew the tournament was coming up and we always know it is a possibility for it to go to PKs. We practiced and we knew our order going in, but with PKs you never know and unfortunately we came out on the losing end.
“I am proud of how far we have come. Just a week ago we lost to that team 5-2. We are young and we have a lot of different pieces and it is taking us a little while to figure out everyone’s role. We have moved a lot of people around in different positions and we have girls playing in positions they have never played before, but we are figuring out what is working for us as a team.”
Bulldogs coach Nate Perry saw a marked improvement in Manteca (4-3) since the two teams last met.
“We played them last week and handled them pretty well 5-2,” Perry said. “They were a different team today and they came out motivated and they really brought it. They are upping their game and I see big things for them in the VOL.
“It was a hard-fought game and I am proud of my girls for the PKs. That sort of thing can help us with the playoffs.”
The Buffaloes got on the board in the 17th minute when Kaitlynn Funsch centered the ball from the wing to Alexa Mayen at the near post. Mayen tapped the ball across the net to Kaley Miller who got the ball in the net for a 1-0 lead.
Miller got a second goal early in the second half for a 2-0 lead and won the Golden Boot Award with six goals in the tournament.
“I came out hard and strong like coach Coenenberg told me to do,” Miller said. “And I just finished my shots.
“On the first one I just looked up and shot it in.”
One minute after Miller’s second goal Tracy (6-0) cut its deficit in half with a goal by Jaden Hall in the 39th minute. With 7 minutes left in the second half the Bulldogs’ Trinity Sandridge tied the score at 2-2 and that would hold for the rest of regulation.
Manteca goalie Aimee Meier had four saves in regulation and she blocked one of the penalty kicks.
It’s hard to judge the person on a PK,” Meier said. “On the one I blocked I saw her body and knew which way to go. The other ones were harder.”
Consolation
East Union 2, Mountain House of Tracy 0
Chloe Cardenas and Jasmine Mejia each had a goal for the Lancers (4-2)
“We were a little flat today after our loss to Tracy on Friday,” East Union coach Carlos Gaspar said. “We bounced back though.”
East Union 3, Summerville 0
Mejia, Jackie Galvan and Sam Snyder helped the Lancers rebound from their loss to Tracy on Friday with a goal apiece.
