by Benjamin Minch, staff writer
After losing a close match to Los Alamitos on Tuesday with the score of 0-1, girls soccer fought Edison in a very brutal match on Thursday, January 5th. Injuries and penalties went both ways, but the Chargers came out on top in overtime with a score of 1-2.
The weather conditions weren’t ideal for the match and the grass turf was slippery and wet, prone for injuries. The game started off a stalemate, with both teams trying to push the ball further down the field, but it was finally broken when Edison succeeded at getting the ball down the field. They then proceeded to kick five corner kicks in a row, but they all were unsuccessful because of the great defense by Brianna Giuntoli (‘18) and Aysia Buendia (‘17), who stopped every kick by heading or kicking the ball down the field.
The first half was filled with pushing and shoving, with many players slipping on the grass or colliding with other players. One player even went out with a bloody nose, and many others had scraped knees and bruises. But the first half saw no goals scored , only three shots on goal by Edison, and two by Fountain Valley.
The moment the second half started, Edison took the ball down the field. Despite the harsh defense of Allison Bebout (‘18) and Karley Duda (‘17), Edison still got into scoring position. Unfortunately, one of the Barons gave Edison a penalty inside of the goal box, causing a penalty kick for Edison.
The whole field got silent as Edison took the kick. The kicker struck the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, scoring a goal for Edison, putting them ahead 0-1.
Fountain Valley however, came back fighting with a swift goal after the kick off. Sandra Hawryla (‘17) shot the ball off of a cross, leaving the Edison goalie defenseless.
The rest of the half saw three yellow cards and a lot of angry parents as Edison’s player got a concussion from flipping over a Fountain Valley player onto the ground. No more goals were scored because of the outstanding saves from goalie Aysia Buendia (‘17).
In overtime, they played a golden goal format, meaning that the first one to score wins the match. Edison started off with the ball, and within three minutes, they scored off of a cross to win the game 1-2.
“I think we played really tough,” said captain Karley Duda (‘17), “but there were many mistakes that cost us the game”.
The team has high aspirations for the rest of the season, “and no matter the outcome, we will play together as a strong team,” said Duda. The team is still looking to get back their losses they suffered early in the season, and is hoping to win their next match against Marina.
