By Marion Wood
Staff Writer
Photos By Stephanie Kim
The girls’ soccer team lost again 2-0 to La Cañada High School in its first league game on the official home field. The Tigers had moved to the baseball field during track renovations, but are now back to their home turf. Despite the upgrade, the girls added another loss to their league record, which stands at 2-5.
La Cañada scored in the first ten minutes of the first half, catching the Tiger defense off guard. A Spartan midfielder passed a long through-ball to a forward, who chased it down and crossed it to the center. The ball bounced multiple times in front of the goal until finally sliding to the back of the net. The rest of the half was relatively stable, with no extremely close goal opportunities. It ended at 1-0.
During the second half, the Tigers had several chances on goal, but nothing came of it. The offense had trouble shooting and controlling the ball in front of the Spartan goal.
“The first half, we came out strong. We were connecting passes and creating chances, but we just need to work on putting them away,” senior Alyssa Carlos said. “That’s the biggest problem we have right now.”
La Cañada had several very close goal attempts. In the middle of the half, the Spartans brought the ball up the sidelines and took a strong shot that narrowly went over the Tiger goal. Another shot was just shy of a goal by La Cañada later in the half. Eventually, La Cañada executed on one of these close plays. A Spartan forward dribbled past several defenders and sent a low shot to the far post of the Tiger goal, ending the game at 2-0.
The Tigers are disappointed about their loss and subsequent league record. The team is not likely to go on to CIF, but that is ultimately decided next week when its regular season comes to a close.
“This was a pretty big game for us. We went in with high energy, hoping that we could win because we’re otherwise not doing very well in the standings,” Carlos said. “We were hoping to earn a spot for CIF, but that didn’t happen, so it depends how we do on Friday and next week.”
The Tigers play another home game this Friday against Temple City at 3:30 p.m.
