A scoreless victory A scoreless victory (January 20, 2006)

Mountain View girls soccer holds No. 1 Los Gatos to a draw

By Greg Hancock

As the Mountain View Spartans girls' soccer team entered Tuesday's match against the first place Los Gatos Wildcats, coach Ahmad Saidin knew a huge opportunity was presenting itself: The Lady Spartans currently sit in fourth place and would make a huge statement if they could defeat the Wildcats on their home field.

Saidin almost got his wish. Playing a solid defensive game and shutting out Los Gatos on offense, Mountain View played to a 0-0 tie against the Wildcats.

Saidin said his game plan against the Wildcats included "playing super hard defense," and that's exactly what the Spartans did. Mountain View held a superb Los Gatos offensive attack to 15 shots on goal for the match. Goalkeeper Cheryl Kestner made impressive saves on numerous Los Gatos scoring chances to keep her team tied.

For their part, the Spartans were able to get off 9 shots in the game. Mountain View had its best scoring opportunity at the 37-minute mark of the second half. After a foul was called on a Los Gatos defender, the Spartans had a free kick from about 35 feet away. The kick, however, was blocked by the defensive wall and cleared away.

Mountain View now owns a record of 2-2-2 in league play. Los Gatos improves to 5-1.

Mountain View defensive standout Gabriela Kuftinec, who made numerous sparkling plays on defense, talked about her team's performance after the game.

"We wanted to really focus on keeping a steady defense and hoping for some offensive breaks," says Kuftinec. "Our defense is really steady, and that gave us a chance to win."

Despite being unable to notch the win, Coach Saidin remains optimistic for the rest of the season.

"We are playing well and finding ourselves," says Saidin.

Kuftinec talked about last year's meeting against Los Gatos, in which the teams played to a 1-1 tie.

"We tied them [Los Gatos] last year, and we wanted to focus on doing the same thing, if not winning this time."

Los Gatos entered the game missing four regular players. The team has been struck with a rash of injuries lately that has forced coaches to bring up two players from the JV team temporarily. Despite the lack of key personnel, the Wildcats proved a formidable opponent to the Spartans.

"We were really pumped up in the beginning," says Kuftinec. "We had our hearts in it and really wanted to score."

Mountain View will next play on Jan. 24 against Gunn, the second match of the year between the two teams. In the first meeting, the Spartans defeated Gunn 1-0.

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