The Lady Rangers lost the opening round of Division 1 playoffs to Arroyo Grande in a heartbreaking 2-1 effort.
By Seth Lopez
On Thursday, February 17, the Redwood Rangers women’s soccer team played their opening round of playoffs in the 4th seed facing the 5th seed Arroyo Grande Eagles. The Rangers were the higher seed, so they got home field advantage. Redwood was not playing up to their usual standard of excellence and the visiting Eagles took advantage of this, waiting for the last minutes to score their game winning goals.
Coming into the game, this is the third time these two teams have met up in the playoffs, with the Rangers winning the past two match-ups. The Eagles started off the game with the ball. They proved to be a worthy match-up for Redwood, coming out with speed and excellent ball handling skills.
In the 13th minute of the game, Arroyo Grande’s speed showed with a break-away play and shot. However, this effort was stopped by the Rangers goalie, Olivia Saenz, in a sliding effort that got it to an outside defender, who kicked the ball out of bounds.
Not long after the Eagles threat, Redwood found themselves in a break-away play by Natalie McDonnell, ’23 who passed it to forward Mckenna Cook, ’22. Cook shot the ball across the box ending in a goal that gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute of the game.
At half-time, Redwood head soccer coach, Jason Vieira, told the girls, “Stop giving them corner kicks. If you give a team that many corner kicks, then eventually they are going to go in.”
Starting the second half of the game, Redwood was ahead 1-0. Both teams came off the sidelines with more of a fire than in the previous half. Arroyo Grande came out hot, only four minutes into the second half, getting the ball past the Ranger defenders and taking two shots back to back on Saenz.
Both attempts were unsuccessful. Saenz said, “We wanted to play our game, and we wanted to be fearless playing this game and whatever happened on the field happened.” Saenz was recently named Co- WYL Defensive Player of the Year, showcasing her true talent in the game with a total of eight saves.
After the stops by Saenz, there was a momentum change moving to the Eagles favor. Arroyo Grande kept up with their fast pace efforts. The Eagles drew a corner kick that ended up reaching the back of the goal by a header from Elise Flores.
The game was tied 1-1, with five minutes left in the match. Not long after the game-tying shot, there was another corner kick that found its way into the goal by Jiana Martin giving Arroyo Grande the lead, 2-1, with less than two minutes left.
Redwood tried their best to get the ball back up to the front to give them a chance to score, but their attempt ended up unsuccessful. The Eagles head coach, Matthew Carinio, explained that his key to winning was simple, “We made two plays, [while] they [only] made one play. That’s really what it came down to.” That loss signaled the end of Redwood women’s soccer season, as they ended with a 17-1-2 record.
Tags: 2-1, arroyo grande, redwood high school, redwood sports, rhs, rhs soccer