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A few hundred bundled-up spectators were treated to an early Christmas gift Tuesday as host Mountain View and St. Francis deadlocked 1-1 after 80 intense minutes. The early-season match was part of the Fremont Girls Soccer Tournament.
St. Francis coach Carlos Barboza, a St. Francis alum, summed up the match perfectly.
“It was a good game between two talented sides,” Barboza said. “It was two sides who will go far in (the Central Coast Section tournament). Maybe we’ll see them in the final of the Fremont Tournament.”
Mountain View coach Jeff Panos, in his third season, echoed Barboza’s summation.
“It was what we expected,” said Panos, a former soccer coach at Serra in San Mateo. “These are two very good teams. Most of these girls play club soccer with each other. They know each other very well. I told my team we were looking in the mirror because of the opponent we were playing. They have the same strengths as us; a good possession game with very quick wings and very strong physically.”
The first several minutes of the match were played in the midfield with neither team getting many serious chances on goal. The Spartans (2-0-1) had the earliest chance when Stanford commit Allie Montoya rolled one to the right of goal in the seventh minute.
Four minutes later, St. Francis freshman Brooklyn O’Brien, one of four freshman starters for the Lancers, served a beautiful ball 40 yards to junior MJ Osborne. The speedy Osborne found herself ahead of the pack, delivering past oncoming goalie Sofia Sasaki for a 1-0 St. Francis lead.
“It was a great ball and I got lucky,” Osborne said. “I made the run inside. I wanted to place it near-post because I know they have a really good keeper.”
The Lancers (1-0-1) outshot the Spartans 6-2 in the first half, 11-3 for the match.
A shot St. Francis goalie Lauren Royse could not come up with came on a penalty kick in the 53rd minute. Doing the honors after a handball violation in the box was Montoya, who rifled one 4 feet off the ground and inside the left post to knot the score.
Sasaki was credited with 6 saves, including a kick-save on a close-in shot midway through the first half. Another St. Francis attempt was cleared at the line by a Spartan defender.
St. Francis, which pressured hard the final 5 minutes, had a serious chance on a direct kick in the 67th minute. However, O’Brien’s shot from 21 yards out went just over goal.
Both teams made hustle plays Mountain View defender Elechi Iroaga stifled several St. Francis threats. Teammate Kate Stone was in the mix much of the first half, while the Lancers constantly doubled the dangerous Montoya throughout.
St. Francis senior Riley Simonsen showed off serious skills with the ball at her feet. Fellow Lancers Charlotte Kohler and Kalea Dwelle were all over the pitch. Defender Caroline Kane, committed to Princeton, did her best to foil the Mountain View attack.
“Mountain View is a good team and it was fun competing against a high-level team,” Osborne said. “We passed the ball well and it was a really good fight.”
“We worked hard,” Barboza said. “We battled from minute 1 all the way to 80. I’m proud they pushed through, but we have lots of work to do on fluidity. In the final minutes, we had a lot of crosses in the 6-yard box and no one on the other end.”
Panos looked at the glass as half-full.
“We struggled with their speed at the beginning,” Panos said. “But this is also game No. 3. We’re still trying to work things out. We’re still building chemistry. To have a game of this magnitude this early on was good for us.”
In other Firebird Classic matches:
Sacred Heart Prep 4, Capuchino 0
Molly Tinsley scored twice and Sacred Heart Prep beat host Capuchino to end a season-opening three-game losing streak.
Camy Sheldon and Carly Gee also scored for the Gators (1-3), who host Carlmont at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday.
Lauren Bassett, Anna Bassett and Sydney Adas each recorded an assist.
Gunn 1, Hillsdale 0
Senior striker Ana Schremp scored the lone goal in the second minute of the game, which was part of the Firebird Classic.
Junior goalkeeper Brenna Birnbaum recorded five saves as the Titans (3-0-1) recorded their third shutout.
Gunn, which has outscored its opponents 18-1 thus far, meets crosstown rival Palo Alto at Fremont in Sunnyvale on Saturday, with a scheduled kickoff of 8 a.m.
Palo Alto (1-2) dropped a 3-0 decision to visiting St. Ignatius in another Classic match. The Vikings travel to play Prospect at 3:15 p.m. Thursday before meeting Gunn.
Menlo 1, Los Gatos 0
Menlo defeated host Los Gatos 1-0 as part of the Firebird Classic on Tuesday night.
Knights senior Carolina Espinosa scored in the 76th minute on an assist from Hannah Gorospe.
Espinosa, Tabitha Corcoran and Dorothy Zhang paced Menlo, which returns home for a game Thursday against Cupertino.
Boys soccer
Thomas Sullivan and Carlos Deras each recorded a goal and an assist and Sacred Heart Prep beat St. Francis 4-1 in a non-league match Tuesday.
Beau Dunleavie and Nathaniel Pi-Sunyer also scored for the Gators (2-0), who travel to play Branham at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Colin Johnson also had an assist.
In another match, Palo Alto beat host Wilcox 2-1.
