Three goal spurt downs Stallions
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Andrea Vasquez (11) tries to get a header by the Clovis East goalkeeper during a 3-0 loss Friday a the CMAC/TRAC Showdown in Memorial Stadium.
The Madera South Stallions girls soccer team was battling the Clovis East Timberwolves tough in the second half of its Tri-River Athletic Conference/County/Metro Athletic Conference showdown.
However, the Timberwolves took advantage of defensive miscues to score three goals in an eight minute span for a 3-0 victory Friday in Memorial Staidum.
“I kept telling them not to pull up,” head coach Ramon Delgadillo said. “The only three times they pulled up, they left the center wide open.”
In all three goals, the Stallions had a chance to keep the ball from goalkeeper Melani Rinder, but missed the opportunity and it resulted in easy goals for Clovis East.
“I think they were too nervous,” Delgadillo said. “When they saw Clovis, they were panicking already. We contained them in the first half. It was pretty good except for those eight minutes. For some reason, they were not focusing. When they always play Clovis, they were nervous. I heard them talking about it before the match.”
Although the Stallions had their chances to put the ball in the back of the net, they couldn’t get a score. Now, the Stallions focus on the CMAC where each match will be a battle.
“This is definitely a good wake-up call,” Delgadillo said. “Now, we have Bullard and Edison. We have a tough CMAC. It’s pretty competitive. Hopefully, this will be good experience for them to start picking it up. There are things we need to fix and we’ll work on it.”
Clovis East got the first opportunity to score in the eighth minute of the match with a breakaway against Rinder. Rinder won the battle with a diving save.
Madera South countered. Aliah Avila intercepted a pass in front of the Clovis East goal. She passed to the inside, but the ball was cleared out.
In the 27th minute, Madera South’s Kayla Gutierrez got a through ball from a defender, but her 30-yard shot was stopped.
Madera South was called for a foul inside the goalkeeper’s box resulting in a penalty kick in the 34th minute. Clovis East stepped up to the ball and sent a kick to Rinder’s right. Rinder made the dive to the right to block the ball out of bounds.
Near the end of the first half, Gutierrez intercepted a Clovis East pass and drew a foul from 30 yards out. Jameela Sanchez stepped up with a shot, but it was stopped.
On the counter, Clovis East got the ball to the right side and crossed it to the front. A one-touch shot on goal was stopped by Rinder to keep the match scoreless at the half.
Four minutes into the second half, Clovis East got a free kick from 25 yards out on the left, but the shot went wide right.
In the 10th minute, Gutierrez got the ball away from the Clovis East keeper. The keeper fell down and Gutierrez passed the ball to the middle for Jimena Gutierrez. Her shot from the left side to the open goal hit outside the net.
Clovis East broke the scoreless tie in the 14h minute. Off a throw-in, Madera South missed the ball to clear it out. The ball went through to a Clovis East attacker who touched into the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Clovis East took the ball from Madera South, who misplayed a long ball. The Timberwolves’ attacker went one-on-one with Rinder and shot past her on the left for a 2-0 lead.
In the 22nd minute, Clovis East dribbled by three defenders on the right and got to the end line. She crossed the ball to the front and a Madera south defender missed the kick. Clovis East was right there to hit the ball into the upper right corner to increase the lead to three goals.
From there, both teams battled, but neither put up another solid threat.
