Coyotes take advantage of opportunities
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera’s Atiana Piñon tries to work the balla round the defense of Madera South’s Kiana Ochoa during Friday’s 2-0 victory over the Stallions. Piñon scored a goal and assisted on the other.
In a rivalry game between the Madera Coyotes and Madera South Stallions girls soccer teams, taking advantage of opportunities could be the difference between winning or losing.
The Coyotes took advantage of a corner kick and a turnover to score a pair of second half goals for a 2-0 victory over Madera South on Friday in Memorial Stadium.
“Sometimes, it’s the luck of the draw,” Madera head coach Cynthia Moreno said. “In soccer, you can possess and outwork a team and get unlucky. You capitalize on the chances you get and it’s good.”
“It was played very even. It could have gone both ways,” Madera South head coach Ramon Delgadillo said. “They played a good game and we played a good game. Soccer is like that, sometimes.”
Atiana Piñon and Jazzel Ruiz scored the goals for the Coyotes with Piñon assisting on Ruiz’s goal.
However, it was staying calm in the second half that was the key for Moreno’s squad.
“Playing Madera South is always a lot of emotions,” she said. “A lot of it is there is a big crowd. Everyone is yelling and the girls start to listen to that and think that’s what they need to do. A halftime, we talked about staying composed under pressure, making sure we keep our heads in the game and keep it simple and get some goals.”
Despite the two-goal lead, the Stallions kept battling. They have established a track record with their five-goal comeback last week in a tie with Golden Valley-Merced.
“I like that the girls fight to the end,” Delgadillo said. “Last week, we were down 6-1 and tied 6-6. They don’t give up. They keep fighting. It was a very aggressive, competitive game. Neither team gave up.”
The Coyotes had more chances on goal in the first half, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Felicity Munoz caught three chances for the Stallions while Madera’s Emily Lopez made two saves in the first half.
In the second half, Ruiz sent a ball in front for Piñon, but her shot was blocked by a sliding Munoz.
In the seventh minute, the Coyotes took advantage of a corner kick. Piñon sent the corner across the face of the goal. Ruiz leaped up and headed the ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Madera’s Mia Roberts got the ball on the left, beat a defender, but her shot hit the side of the net in the 17th minute.
Madera South started to get some chances. Aliah Avila’s 30-yard free kick just went over the crossbar. Then, Delilah Jimenez sent a free kick from the left corner to goal, but it was headed out.
The Stallions had chance in the 30th minute with a corner kick. However, Anissa Garcia cleared the ball out and the return shot was hit out of bounds.
Off the goal kick, Madera South sent a bad pass that was intercepted. The ball made its way to Piñon with a step in front of her defender. She shot past a sliding Munoz into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead with about 10 minutes left in the match.
Madera South had a prime opportunity in the 37th minute. With a free kick from about 20 yards out, Jimenez sent the ball on goal. Lopez deflected the ball over her head, but it looked to be going into the back of the net. Gonzalez was there to keep the ball from crossing the goal line. The ball was eventually knocked out of bounds to result in a corner kick.
On the corner, Ruiz headed the ball clear and started a Madera counter. Piñon got the ball on the right and sent it to the middle for Roberts, but her shot went side.
Madera South had one last chance in the 39th minute, but the ball was cleared out.
