By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
GLENDORA – You have to give St. Lucy’s credit. The Regents knew the Glendora High School girls soccer team was going to force the action, especially at home in the final meeting between the rivals before the Tartans leave the Sierra League for the Baseline next season.
The defending league champion Regents weathered the Tartans’ push by getting aggressive on the back line, with freshman defender Marissa Hagerman and senior Daniella Perez meeting the Tartans with bodies on their backs at all times. The Regents held the Tartans off long enough to create a few chances of their own for a 2-1 win behind goals from sophomore Shannon Kent and freshman Vanessa Landa. (To continue click thread)
“The one thing we focused on all week is being real physical,” said Regents coach Andy Plascencia, whose team improved to 8-5-2 and 1-0. “We knew the field would be a little iffy, so we wanted to win the physical battles.”
Kent gave the Regents the lead on an unusual goal from the corner of the penalty area. She floated a ball across the goal that kept sailing with enough pace that Tartans keeper Brianna Rice could only look on in disbelief as it went into the upper corner of the net in the 43rd minute for a 1-0 lead.
“I’m sure she (Kent) will say she was going for the goal all the time,” Plascencia joked. “We were fortunate on that one.”
The second was more to Plascentia’s liking. Landa moved through defenders and slipped past Rice’s challenge to score in the 62nd minute, which was even more painful to the Tartans considering defender Jessica Smertherman injured her ankle on the play and left the game.
The Tartans responded to the Regents’ physical play with some physical play of their own and finally scored when sophomore Alexandra Wilson slid a pass in front for Chelsea Bell, who scored in the 74th minute.
The Tartans couldn’t get the tying goal and dropped to 5-7-3 and 0-1.
“I’m not going to sit and say what if this and what if that,” Tartans coach Shane Bangle said. “We created the better opportunities but that doesn’t always result in wins. That’s the game of soccer.”
He was proud of how they fought back late.
“We really pushed at the end,” Bangle said. “The whole game I thought we were aggressive enough, but we lacked that `I’m going to push back’ attitude until late in the game. Hopefully we learned something from that.”
fred.robledo@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2161
