STOCKTON – Domination is never bad, but sometimes it is not good enough.

Sierra’s Minty Doyle and Manteca’s Josie Reyes helped the South dominate the North from beginning to end in the San Joaquin Soccer Alliance Senior Showdown on Sunday, but in the end the North came away with a 1-0 win at Delta College.

The South blasted the North net all day, firing 26 shots with 19 on those on goal – some literally on goal. The South was repeatedly snake bit by finding the bar instead of the net, none more so than Doyle who clanged the bar four times.  

In the closing moments the South had four shots in less than a minute with two hitting the post and two deflected by the North goalie Shelby Hand of Lodi.

“The whole game was really, really fun,” Doyle said. “But it was frustrating too because for me it was just post after post after post. And then it was hard to believe it did not go end in the sequence at the end.

“To play with all the girls we have played against was a great experience.”

Reyes shared in Doyle’s frustration.

“It was definitely frustrating,” Reyes said. “We just kept shooting and shooting and the ball kept finding the crossbar. You have to give credit to their goalies too – they were both good.

“It was good to see the level of talent the other schools have and to get them to play together was fun.”

With the South offense dominating the game, there were not many shots on the South goal with just five total shots by the North with four of those on goal. Manteca goalie Cat McVeigh was able to stop three of them but McNair’s Daisy Contreras got the lone goal of the game through in the 65th minute.  

“I had a great time,” McVeigh said. “It was a great opportunity to play with girls I usually play against.”

The South coaches were rivals as well with Sierra’s Manuel Pires and Manteca’s Justin Coenenberg splitting the duties. 

“I thought our team played really well,” Pires said. “But they had some good players.

“We created some quality opportunities and I don’t know how many times we hit the post and that was crazy. The kids looked like they had fun out there and I thought overall the soccer was a pretty good showing.” 

This was Coenenberg’s third all-star game.

“This was a lot of fun,” Coenenberg said. “This is my third year doing it. I just told the girls how we spend all season long coaching against them and not really knowing them and then you get to spend a couple of days with them and get to know them. It’s fun playing together on the same team and being able to represent the South.

“We created a lot of opportunities and I don’t think I have ever seen a ball go off of the post so many times in a row. But it was still a lot of fun.”

Reyes and McVeigh were joined by Manteca teammates Natalia Duran and Joselyn Prado. Kyndra Kiser and Alison Bitle from Sierra were on the South squad as were East Union’s Britney Moneyhun and Julia Vigallon.