Dos Pueblos coach Kymberly Williams-Evans took a page out of Channel-League powerhouse Buena’s book for Tuesday’s 2-1 girls soccer win against visiting San Marcos.
“We discovered that Buena does this thing where their coach says they must score in the first five minutes. So if that’s what it takes to win, that’s what we needed to do,” said the first year coach.
Junior Kristen Witchey got the message, scoring in the second minute on a direct kick from 30 yards out. It was a welcomed sight for the Chargers, who have struggled in the first half this season.
San Marcos’ Eva Roodenrijs also scored on a direct kick to tie the score about 15 minutes into the second half, but DP’s Karina Evans put her left foot on a deflected shot just a couple of minutes after that and lopped it into the far post for the game-winner.
“It was really exciting for me, especially because this was a crosstown rivalry game,” said Evans, who is the coach’s daughter. “I didn’t think it went in at first because I turned around, but then everybody started celebrating.”
Erin Ristig had a great run at the goal and sent in a shot that deflected off of a San Marcos defender, setting up Evans for the opportunity. Ristig, an outstanding all-around athlete, made great runs at the goal throughout the match.
“I can really trust her, because every time she’s got the ball up close I know she’s going to do something good with it,” said the younger Evans.
Evans was moved from fullback to wing for the match and Ristig was moved from the wing to the middle. Coach Williams-Evans said that even though Ristig prefers the outside, she accepts any sort of position change and works well with her teammates, particularly Evans.
Witchey said that her older sister, Lauren, who graduated from DP (6-13-1, 2-5) last year and is now at UCLA, told her before that match that she had to score and beat the Royals (4-11-2, 1-6).
“My sister told me to score, and our coach told us to score in the first five minutes, so we did,” said Witchey.
San Marcos coach Lloyd Biggs said that the game was a tale of two halves.
“Our girls played really good soccer in the first half but we had three or four great chances that we didn’t score on,” he said. “DP worked harder in the second half and they deserved it.”
He also said that it would be hard to play great soccer on DP’s surface, pointing down to the dust and dirt at his feet. He has said the same thing about San Marcos’ field early in the season. Both schools are reportedly working on getting new turf.
Biggs and coach Christy Lozano noted the strong play of Roodenrijs and Taryn Weiss, who left the game in the final 10 minutes and went to the hospital with a suspected concussion.
