Stallions win shootout
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Gigi Gutierrez gets ready to shoot for her first of three goals during a 5-4 victory over Bullard on Thursday.
The Madera South Stallions and Bullard-Fresno Knights battled in a shootout after the rain in Memorial Stadium.
The teams scored a combined nine goals with eight coming in quick succession before the Stallions held on for a 5-4 County/Metro Athletic Conference victory Thursday in Memorial Stadium.
“Our gameplan was to not let them score,” head coach Ramon Delgadillo said. “Unfortunately, they came out and scored. Once we put our first goal in to tie the game, the girls got motivated and they knew they could do it. Our strength was taking shots on them.”
Gigi Gutierrez led the Stallions, scoring the Stallions’ final three goals, including the final two goals after the match was tied at three.
“In my first year, I used her as a defender.” Delgadillo said. “She never played defender. As time went by, I think she can be a really good forward.”
Yulianna Lomeli and Itzel Rodriguez added goals for the Stallions.
“We did a good job attacking the goal,” Delgadillo said. “We’ve done a lot of work with our defenders and forwards. I think we have a lot of ways to go on our defenders. They are afraid of making a mistake and making a foul. We were a little conservative on the defensive end.”
The Knights got on the scoreboard in the 12th minute. The Knights sent in a long free kick on goal to the left. Madera South tried to clear the ball out, but Bullard intercepted the clear and sent a shot past goalkeeper Jatzelle Salazar inside the left corner for the goal.
However, the Stallions tied the score three minutes later. Rodriguez sent a pass to the right for Lomeli, who fired a shot by the keeper inside the right post for the equalizer.
Bullard had a chance to take the lead off a corner kick, but the header went off the post.
Then, the two teams scored three goals in a four-minute span. Madera South took lead in the 26th minute.
Brielle Bitter got the ball in the midfield on the left and sent a diagonal cross to Rodriguez, who beat the goalkeeper to the right for the 2-1 lead.
Three minutes later, off an inbounds pass, Sabrina Ibrahim settled the pass and sent the ball to Gutierrez in front. Gutierrez shot from about 30-yards out inside the upper right corner for the goal and a 3-1 lead.
However, within the next minute, Bullard took the ball to the end line and sent it back to an attacker, who one-touched the ball past Salazar to cut the lead to 3-2.
Madera South’s lead didn’t last too long in the second half. Bullard got the ball in front, avoided two Madera South defender touches and shot into the opposite corner to tie the score five minutes into the second half.
Six minutes later, the Stallions reclaimed the lead. Rodriguez sent a ball in front for Gutierrez. She battled with a Bullard defender for possession. Once she got control of the ball, Gutierrez sent a long shot on goal over the goalkeeper, who wasn’t expecting the shot.
Madera South added to its lead four minutes later. Rodriguez sent a corner kick across the face of the goal over the goalkeeper’s head. Gutierrez was right there to head the ball into the back of the net for a 5-3 lead.
The Knights put the pressure on the Stallions with a goal in the 30th minute. Bullard took the ball deep on the left side and cross the ball to the right. The Bullard attacker shot to the opposite side inside the left post to cut the lead to 5-4.
The Knights tried to score the equalizer, but couldn’t get a quality shot off. Delgadillo moved Gutierrez to help out in the back and she cleared a few Bullard shots up the field to keep the Knights off the scoreboard and give the Stallions the 5-4 CMAC victory.
