Walnut impressive in 4-0 rout of South Hills; Bishop Amat dominates La Salle

Bishop Amat High School’s girls soccer team is undefeated and atop the CIF-Southern Section coaches top-10 poll in Division 6 for a reason, and the Lancers showed why Monday. Selena Quezada came off the bench to score two goals and Yazmin Montoya had another, all in the second half, to lead Bishop Amat to a 3-0 victory over La Salle in Del Rey League action


Above: Walnut defender Nikki McKee gives up her body to protect goalkeeper Deanne Resplandor. BTW, McKee also kicks extra-points for the Mustangs.

By Fred J. Robledo
Walnut
— When South Hills high school’s Natalie Maxey had a header off a corner kick poked away by Walnut goalkeeper Deanne Resplandor in the 29th minute, Huskies coach Scott Mocabee gasped.
When Huskies forward Mayra Almazan couldn’t convert a breakaway a few
minutes later, Mocabee gasped again.
“You hope you can convert one of those chances and sit on it (the lead),” Mocabee said. “If you don’t, Walnut’s going to make you pay, they always do.”
Isn’t that the truth, Walnut turned a scoreless game at half into a
4-0 rout on Monday, burying chance-after-chance in the final 40 minutes to take over sole possession of first in the San Antonio league as it chases its 11th consecutive league title. (To continue click thread)

“I knew the first half was going to be a little bit of nerves because
there is always a lot of anticipation when you play South Hills,” Mustangs
coach Lorraine Hansen said. “It was going back and forth for a while,
then Deanne came up with that huge save. That sparked us, we almost scored
near the end of the first half, and that momentum carried over.”
You couldn’t ask for better execution either.
Alex Interiano put the Mustangs in front 1-0 in 50th minute after the
combination work from Ashley Caligiuri and freshman Kayla Mills left her with an easy finish in front of the Huskies’ goal.
A couple minutes later, Mills doubled the lead with a left-footed shot from the top of the penalty area that Huskies goalkeeper Morgan Belio could barely get her fingertips on.
The Mustangs kept pushing, getting another goal when Mills’ pass out
wide to Caligiuri was crossed to the back post for Stefanie Catone, who
finished a tricky right-footed shot across her body in the 64th minute.
Alexia Avila closed the show with a right-footed shot from 20 yards
that had so much pace Belio couldn’t do anything but stare at it, giving the
Mustangs a commanding 4-0 lead in the 77th minute.
It was also the Mustangs’ (15-3-2, 6-0) seventh consecutive shutout, a credit to a 3-4-3 formation that starts with center back Nikkie Mckee, who
also receives plenty of help from outside defenders Hannah Leu and Ari Anaya.
When Hansen wanted to go with just three defenders in the back, she
said she heard whispers from some questioning her tactics, but the formation
has allowed the Mustangs to attack in numbers and play three forwards up top.
Besides, with most teams bunkering-up defensively and only sending one or two forwards at them, it’s a luxury they can afford.
“Maybe we give up a little in the back, but I have a lot of confidence in those back three,” Hansen said. “They all sort of have sweeper mentalities back there, and it has allowed us to be stronger in the midfield and has created more scoring opportunities.”
With South Hills dropping to 9-7-1 and 4-1, you won’t get an argument
from Mocabee.
“They’re the best team we faced all season, they have so much depth,”
Mocabee said. “After we got down and tried to push, we left way too many holes in the back and as you saw, they’re too fast and too strong to survive those kind of breakdowns defensively.”

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