Madera soccer falls with set pieces
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Itzel Rodriguez follows her penalty shot miss by knocking in the rebound for her 10th goal of the season in a 3-1 loss to the Clovis West Golden Eagles.
If it wasn’t for setting up goals, the Madera Coyotes girls soccer team may have come away from its final non-conference match against Clovis West with a victory.
However, the Golden Eagles scored all three of their goals on set pieces — a corner kick and two free kicks — to record a 3-1 victory Jan. 28 in Memorial Stadium.
“It’s something that we work on,” Cameron Hill said about the set pieces. “We worked on it specifically, yesterday. It’s definitely something we need to get better at.”
Itzel Rodriguez kept up her outstanding season with a goal off her own penalty kick. The goal was her 10th goal of the season and sixth in the past four matches.
However, the Golden Eagles scored early in both halves and held off a Madera charge with a goal with five minutes left in the match.
“I thought we did well in the second half,” Hill said. “They had just two shots. We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”
Clovis West earned a corner kick in the seventh minute. The corner went to the middle of the goal. A Clovis West attacker got a head on the ball and it went through the hands of the Madera goalkeeper and into the back of the net for the opening goal.
Eight minutes into the second half, Clovis West sent a long free kick to the front of the goal to the left. A Clovis West attacker came in and knocked the ball inside the right post for a two goal lead.
Both teams battled with neither team breaking through. Clovis West had the advantages in the first half, but the Coyotes had their chances in the second half.
The Coyotes finally got a chance to score. Klarissa Ramos got the ball on the right side and was taken out from behind in the box, which drew a penalty kick.
Rodriguez stepped up to take the shot. She shot hard at the goalkeeper’s right. The ball went off the goalkeeper, but Rodriguez recovered and knocked the ball inside the left corner to cut Clovis West’s lead to 2-1 with five minutes left in the match.
However, a minute later, Clovis West got another free kick on the right. The shot went to the left side of the goal and an attacker came in to kick the ball inside the right corner for the 3-1 victory.
