Carpinteria got a chance to show Villanova what its girls soccer team is like at full strength Saturday, beating the Wildcats 2-1 in the third-place game of the Villanova Tournament.
The Warriors had lost to the very same team 5-1 at the beginning of the season despite a scoreless tie at the half, but coach Lucy Carleton was missing a heap of players due to a pair of Quincianeras, which are special celebrations for girls on their 15th birthday.“We were decimated by Quincianeras, so we really had no rest with only a couple of players on the bench,” she said.
Maritza Torres came into Saturday’s game in the 11th minute and scored almost right away to put the Warriors up 1-0. The Wildcats tied it up in the 32nd to make it 1-1 at the break.
Ally Winn came through with a 70th-minute blast from the right side to end the day’s scoring and avenge the earlier loss.
Viridiana Magana had a big day defensively, matching up against a much larger girl who had scored all five of the Villanova goals in the previous meeting.
“I tried to sub her out to give her a break, but she wanted to stay because she said the girl made her mad,” said Carleton. “She really took it upon herself to stick on that girl.”
The coach also said the rest of the back line — Lucero Cortez, Sally Lam and Ariana Martinez — played a stellar game and thet freshman goalie Tania Arroyo played great to earn the second-half shutout.
The Warriors improved to 4-3-1 with the win.
