Mercury soccer squad tunes up Mercury soccer squad tunes up (June 17, 2005)

Next stop for MVLA girls is Far West Championships

By Scott Campbell

Given the consistent dominance of his team, coach Albertin Montoya was surprised that club team Mountain View-Los Altos Mercury even allowed a goal in their game against Mustang Soccer Club on June 12. The first-half score, which shrank the Mercury's lead to 2-1, came so unexpectedly that Montoya missed it entirely.

"I didn't even see it coming," said Montoya of Mustang forward Jessica Johal's quick answer to the Mercury's second goal. "I pulled out four players right before that happened and I was talking to them on the sideline. It just caught me off guard because I thought we were controlling the game."

The only goal that the Mercury (3-0-1) has allowed in the USL Super Y-League did little to deter this Under-15 girls team. The Mercury, rated No. 3 in the country by NationalSoccerRanking.com, thoroughly out played Mustang SC the rest of the way and emerged with a 5-1 victory at Danville's Diablo Vista Park.

For the Mercury, however, the outcome of this game took a back seat to the team's final preparations for next week's Far West Regional Championships. Leading up to that 16-team tournament, Montoya directed his squad to maintain its possessions with clean passes, corral more defensive air balls and convert its scoring opportunities.

Despite controlling the ball virtually from the opening kickoff, the Mercury failed to generate any scoring opportunities in the early stages, save a missed penalty kick by Sarah NeSmith in the sixth minute.

Eventually, though, dominating the ball in the Mustang's half of the field began to pay dividends. Right midfielder Emily Langston gathered the ball in the right corner in the 15th minute and sent a cross over the middle that forward Lindsay Taylor powered into the Mustang net with a left-footed boot.

"It was little behind her, but she had an awesome turn and a nice shot," said Langston of her pass and Taylor's delivery. "Once I got the ball under my feet, I just thought, 'I have to get the ball to her. We have to score early and put the game away.'"

Defensive midfielder Margueritte Aozasa put the Mercury up 2-0 six minutes later thanks to a sharp pass from attacking midfielder Teresa Noyola, but Montoya was still far from satisfied with his team's early showing.

"I was very frustrated in the first half," said Montoya, whose team took a 2-1 lead into the break. "We had a good 10 to 15 chances and we only put two away, and at the end of the day, you've got to put a team away."

The Mercury did just that in the second half, scoring three times in a 12-minute span to overwhelm Mustang SC (1-2-1).

"They took it to us," said Mustang SC coach Tim Lewis, whose team was outshot 30-3. "There's a reason they're going to regionals, right?"

Langston, Taylor & Co. showed why the Mercury are undefeated in Northern California the past two years.

Langston took a Taylor feed and dribbled down the left sideline to eventually find the left corner of the Mustang net in the 49th minute.

Four minutes later, Aozasa threaded a pass to Taylor just to the left of the goal. Taylor pushed the ball past Mustang goalie Christine Walden to give the Mercury a 4-1 lead.

"We played much better in the second half once we started moving the ball around," said Taylor, who finished with two goals and an assist. "That was just the key for us -- we needed to connect passes and put the ball into the net."

Brittany Westrum provided the final margin with a goal in the 61st minute, a play that developed after Noyola drew two defenders and Walden out before delivering her second assist.

According to co-captain Hallie Keenan, the Mercury have a leg up on their competition before even taking the field.

"We've been to school together, we've played together and we're all really close, we're like this big family," said Keenan of her teammates, most of whom have played together since fourth grade.

"Sometimes I don't even have to talk. We've just played so long together we can just kind of tell where everyone's moving."

And now the Mercury, two-time defending State Cup Champions, set off for Colorado for their second crack at the Far West Regional Championships. The team fell in a double-overtime semifinal last year and will use that experience to its advantage in this year's tournament.

"We've been there before, so now we know what to expect," said Montoya.

The winner of the regional advances to the USYSA National Championships, held in Florida on July 20-25.

The Mercury open the Far West with pool-play matches against the champions from New Mexico, Idaho and Utah on June 20-22.

E-mail Scott Campbell at sports@mv-voice.com

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