The game started out close in the beginning, but it wasn’t long into the game before the Matadors took an early lead. Neither team showed much control for the first couple minutes, but then the Matadors broke through to score the first goal of the game. They earned three straight short corners, which is awarded when the opposing team commits a foul in their circle or, as determined by the referee, a particularly bad foul in their defending quarter. Finally, on the third short corner, junior Suzanne Stern put a shot into the back of the net off an assist by senior Rockxanna Garajehdaghi.
This lead didn’t last long, as Willow Glen quickly came back to tie the game up at 1-1 with a goal by junior Safia Mirabella. This was followed by another quick goal by MVHS, when senior Lauren Parcel scored off a long pass by senior Ashley Vernazza. But then Willow Glen came back to score 3 more goals in the first half including one each by seniors Buree Cowherd and Danielle Yaconelli to take a 4-2 lead going into halftime.
After halftime, neither team had much success offensively as it remained 4-2 for quite a while. MVHS tried to get pumped up in a timeout with a “LET’S DO IT!” chant, but unfortunately the enthusiastic cheer didn’t translate to play on the field. The Matadors had several opportunities to score, but Willow Glen got the next goal off a shot by senior Anna Russo. Yaconelli scored one more goal before the end of the game to put them ahead 6-2.
“MVHS came out really aggressive and played very well for their senior night game, which caused us to start out slowly," Willow Glen coach Lindsey Rovai said. "But we were able to put it together in the end."
This was clearly the case as the Matadors kept up for the majority of the first half, until Willow Glen really pulled away to gain the victory.
The Matadors ended the season at 3-5-2. But what they gained through the season was more than this record portrayed.
"Our win-loss record may not show it, but we grew closer as a team and we played off of each other's strengths throughout the season," sophomore Erin Chiu said.
"This year we had a supportive team and great sportsmanship," MVHS coach Denise Eachus said. "We are going to focus on conditioning and improving sprint speed over the offseason. We have a lot of returning players, so hopefully we will have a strong showing next season."
