After storming out to a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes, Laguna Blanca’s girls soccer team decided to make things a bit interesting in Saturday’s match against visiting Dunn.
The Earwigs scored two goals to open up the second half before junior captain Erin Stone saved the day with the game-winner in Laguna’s 3-2 victory, which put the Owls alone in first place in the Condor League.
“In the second half we kind of broke down a bit, but we finished it and that’s what matters,” said Stone. “I was pretty stressed when it was 2-2 but I got lucky on the goal. Everyone was just working really hard at that point.”
Laguna is now an impressive 9-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in league play after tying Thacher earlier in the week.
“Our goal is to go undefeated in league and finish first, and then also to get as far as we can in CIF. I think we can definitely make it past the second round, which was how far we got two years ago,” Stone added.
Lauren McAllister wasted no time getting the Owls on the board, slipping one past the goalie and into the bottom corner from about 20 yards out in the fourth minute. About 10 minutes later, McKenzie Scarborough beat the keeper in a dash to a ball in the box and rolled in an easy one to make it 2-0.
Dunn scored in the seventh minute of the second half, and star forward Areli Diosdado got the equalizer 11 minutes later.
“I told girls that a 2-0 lead is probably the most deceiving score, because before you know it they score one and get the momentum and tie it up. That’s exactly what happened… But we showed we can handle that adversity,” said coach Gregg Luna.
Stone took the ball at the top of the box two minutes after Diosdado’s goal and found the back of the net for the winner.
Goalie Nikki Byrne had a stellar sequence of back-to-back saves right after Stone’s goal, and Luna said that Izzy Greer did a nice job in the effort to contain Diosdado.
The Owls play at Hillcrest Christian on Wednesday.
(Photos by Blake Dorfman/PresidioPics. To order prints, e-mail [email protected])
