Girls’ Soccer: Eagles shut out Mustangs again
COSTA MESA — There was another half left on Tuesday night, but Gianna Guyot took her gloves off. At halftime, the Estancia High goalkeeper jogged off the field, leaving her team.
Her work against Costa Mesa on the soccer field was done with. She had to go get ready to play the Mustangs in basketball in about an hour.
The Eagles didn’t really need Guyot’s services on the field. The Mustangs never posed a threat as Estancia opened Orange Coast League play with a 2-0 win at home.
The Mustangs have a new coach, Tamiko Davila, but not much has changed in the Battle for the Bell rivalry. The Eagles own it after they shut out Costa Mesa for the third straight time.
Estancia Coach Jessica Perry was in a good mood. Whenever her team gets through the Mustangs, she has a big smile on her face.
“Obviously happy to start off league with a win and it’s against Costa Mesa,” Perry said. “We had a lot [of scoring chances] and we didn’t capitalize on as many as we would’ve liked. I’m sure a lot the girls wanted to get some goals today, but we got two and that’s great.”
That was plenty of production for Estancia (5-2-6, 1-0-0 in league) to knock off Costa Mesa in the first of two league matches this season.
During last season’s two league contests, the Eagles scored at least five goals every time they faced the Mustangs. The chances were there for about five goals on Tuesday, but shots went either wide or high.
The first shot that didn’t sail over the crossbar was one from about 40 yards out by Brandi White. With no one around her, she struck the ball, surprising the keeper, who dropped the ball and couldn’t prevent it from crossing the line for a goal in the 36th minute.
“It was unlucky,” Davila said. “We could’ve closed down a little bit better in the midfield, to not let [White] have that look.
“We knew for a fact that they were going to be way more of a threat. We were going to have to play conservative. We knew that we were going to have to try to create opportunities with throw-ins, with corner kicks, with counterattacks.”
Those scoring chances never really came for Costa Mesa (3-8-0, 0-1-0), which has dropped five of its last six matches.
White, a freshman defender, and defenders Shantel Romero and Marlene Calderon stopped whatever Costa Mesa tried to do. They made it a quiet evening for the Eagles’ keepers, Guyot and Caitlin Leahy, who combined for two saves.
Leahy’s save came 10 minutes into the second half. She easily stopped a free kick from 25 yards out by Johanna Hernandez. That was the Mustangs’ lone shot-on-goal in the second half.
The rest of the scoring chances belonged to the Eagles. They mostly played in the Mustangs’ end, and with the foot of Jackie Hubbard in the 67th minute the Eagles went up, 2-0.
“It just feels really good to do it for the school and for my team,” said Hubbard, a striker, who is looking forward to the Eagles’ next match.
Estancia plays host to Laguna Beach, the defending league champion, on Thursday at 5 p.m.
“It’s a big match,” said Perry, whose team placed fourth in league last season. “Our motto for this year is we’re going to take care of our own business.”
Twitter: @DCPenaloza