Stockdale falls to 0-5 in Central Section girls soccer title games
| Sunday, Mar 01 2009 02:19 AM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 25 2009 06:17 PM
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Clovis-Buchanan's Kacey Held, right, races toward a free ball while Stockdale's Michelle Spinner follows in the first half of Saturday's game at Buchanan High.
CLOVIS — One could tell it was a bad day for the Stockdale High girls soccer team when the parents and other Mustang fans directed one of their loudest cheers Saturday afternoon to Colleen Reed, who bumped a Clovis-Buchanan player to the ground.
It was one of the few acts of aggressive play by Stockdale in the Central Section Division I championship match at Buchanan.
The host Bears made it four straight section championships with a dominant performance, a 5-1 win that could have easily been more lopsided.
Third-seeded Buchanan (25-3-1) overwhelmed fourth seed Stockdale (17-4-6) by flooding the goal area with players on the Bears’ attacks, and Buchanan’s defense did an excellent job closing passing lanes and preventing most serious scoring chances by the Mustangs.
Stockdale avoided a shutout inside the final two minutes when Melody Jorgensen tallied her fourth goal of the season, a play set up by Erica Shelton’s pass inside that was flicked by McKenna Reiser to Jorgensen, who was about four feet from the left side of the goal.
“Mel did a real good job staying back door and putting it in the back of the net,” said Stockdale coach Janien McGowan. But that was the only highlight for Stockdale, which is 0-5 in Central Section girls soccer title games, and it was the third time in four seasons the Mustangs have lost to Buchanan.
Stockdale came into the finals fresh off a 1-0 win over top-seeded Clovis, one of the top-ranked teams in the West. But the Mustangs did not play at the same level Saturday, McGowan said.
“We came out and played flat today,” McGowan said. “We didn’t play the way we did the other night. No excuses. The bottom line is we didn’t get after it. ... We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls. We didn’t want it bad enough. I’m at a loss for words right now.”
Until Jorgensen’s goal, Stockdale’s best scoring chance was 30 seconds after Buchanan had taken a 1-0 lead. Shelton got the ball about five yards in front of the goal and had a clear shot, but Buchanan goalie Angie Neathery managed to deflect the ball away.
Tentative play doomed Stockdale because Buchanan fed on that indecisiveness by swarming the ball, particularly when there were scoring chances.
“When we play our best, to our potential, we’re very difficult to handle,” Buchanan coach Erik Farfan said.
Lisa Hensley, one of four players who have been on all of Buchanan’s section championship teams, had two goals and an assist. Freshman forward Elise Kreighoff was one of the dominant players for the Bears with her all-out hustle. She had three assists.
Stockdale nearly got into halftime only trailing 1-0, but backup forward Kristi D’Alessandro, who had entered the match late in the first half, scored in the final minute to make it 2-0.
Buchanan added two goals in the first 16 minutes of the second half to put it away.
Farfan said he thought the Bears’ early-season tournament play against some of the top teams from Bakersfield was beneficial during the playoff run. He said the Bears’ goal was facing the Clovis team Stockdale KO’d in the section semifinals.
“The one thing I know: In each season, you have to go through Bakersfield,” Farfan said. “In our preseason, we played Liberty, Bakersfield High — we didn’t play Stockdale. Clovis hadn’t done that, and when they faced Stockdale, it was a different game.” The five goals by Buchanan matched the most allowed in a contest by Stockdale this season.
