So it was Finals Week for the players… AND we had Tuesday , Thursday, Friday and Saturday games. Wow.
We started Tuesday 12-18 versus Livermore.
And GRINCH it was… 1-0 was the final (Livermore) and the goal against AV was secured in the first minute! The rest of the game was a battle of our midfielders vs. a swift turning Cowboy, AND our forwards and the physicality of the Livermore backline!! A flurry of AV shots in the last few minutes made it possible to WIN- just couldn’t get it to drop..
Thursday 12-20 was against Granada. The Matadors came out to play and Amador wanted to match it- desperately wanting to regain strength and poise from their previous match. Throughout the game, Amador had few moments to score, more crosses than anything, some balls connecting with the cross bar but Granada had a few which they capitalized upon; 1 un-orthodox scrappy goal and 1 well struck ball off a textbook wide ball to center forward waiting. 2-0 Matadors. SANTA ISN’T WORKING in AV FAVOR.
At the Tri-Valley Classic Tournament, Friday was a cold evening game; Taft vs. AVHS. AV regained their team play and basically wrecked havoc on Taft Team; W 7-0. The team element came back in focus and Reedy assisted Kieran/Penny Murphy went to the sky for a goal over the GK/Kennedy Mayo was assisted by Maille Smith/Reedy got in on the goal scoring for number 4/Allison Jones earned her goal before halftime. In the second half, Maille Smith hit net and freshman Natalie O’Sullivan earned her first AVHS goal! Overall, the play was spread across the team; a great team win. And fun.
Saturday Tri-Valley game pitted Clayton Valley HS vs the Dons. As the game wound up, Amador had notched good passing and team tactics to hit the net 2 times n the first half; Forward Smith and Midfielder Wallace made AVHS up 2. The game seemed to have a steady favor for AVHS! Visitors CVHS had only 1 score to their card, soon thereafter, but as the second half began, refereeing was less stringent and Clayton VHS used its leniency to tackle tough, unnerve the Dons and attack quickly. Before long, the Dons were tied up, and the Clayton players continued to pursue physically, with quick bursts to get in front of the goal and it was 2-3. Amador struggled to get their feet back and in control of the game, and the whistling by refs didn’t help. Clayton scored a long high ball off a free kick…2-4. Ultimately, Amador rebounded with a last 10 minute thrust of energy, and to their credit scored to make it 3-4 yet missed the rest of the flurries, which ended the game. Another GRINCH moment for the week!