BY THUY HO: As the skies finally dried and soccer balls no longer had to float, the Westminster Lady Lions hosted the 8-2 Argonauts of Garden Grove High last week at Boswell Field.
With its number 1 ranking in CIF’s Division 7, Grove felt right at home and dominated the game just eight minutes into play, peppering the Lions’ goalkeeper, Erica Bravo, with many shots, but a strong defense and five saves by Bravo kept the Lions in the game.
BY THUY HO: As the skies finally dried and soccer balls no longer had to float, the Westminster Lady Lions hosted the 8-2 Argonauts of Garden Grove High last week at Boswell Field.
With its number 1 ranking in CIF’s Division 7, Grove felt right at home and dominated the game just eight minutes into play, peppering the Lions’ goalkeeper, Erica Bravo, with many shots, but a strong defense and five saves by Bravo kept the Lions in the game.
It was not until the final 10 minutes until the Argos scored their only goal and they happily had Giselle Betancourt and Kassandra Herrera on the scorecard.
Garden Grove was led by Herrera and Betancourt. The team returns 12 starters from last season.
But it was too late. The Lions triumphed by a score of 4-1.
“It was a great game,” said Garden Grove High coach Bryan Delarose. “Very great team. It was fun to watch.”
What made this game so different was the confidence and poise that Westminster showed as midway through the first half the squad leveled the score at 1-1 when Vanessa Campos put in a goal with the assistance of Yazmin Gomez.
The halftime adjustment was to open things up a bit and the Lions did that. The early hookup switched places as Campos now gave Gomez the pass that put the Lions ahead 2-1.
“Their forward, Yazmin Gomez, she’s very fast. Very good with her feet,” said coach Delarose.
Five minutes later and the Lions’ barrage continued as Jackie Roldan hit the back of the net with a second assist on the night from Campos. Sarah Ralston put plenty of passes out for the charging forwards and Gomez took plenty of runs up the middle before she calmly passed off to Roldan for her second goal of the night and a 4-1 lead for Westminster.
The Lions totaled 23 shots on goals and the Argos’ Jessica Rodriguez managed 11 hard-earned saves to slow things down, but this game showcased a new plan in the Lions ‘ attack as injuries are on the mend and league begins next week for everybody.
The long offseason is now officially over and Westminster will now see if its tough pre-season schedule pays off as planned.
Other contributing players for Westminster were Sophia Cogan, Karla Rivera, Elizabeth Martinez, Vanessa Orduno, Olivia Morey, Kelly Almazan, Sara Ralston, Stephanie Gomez, Alexis Saldana, Emily Aranda, Shaylah Winterfield, Evelin Mendoza, Jarely Vazquez and Karina Gonzalez.
