In soccer terms, two goals in two minutes is ‘what-just-happened’ fast.
Annie Weis and Brennan Cusack’s consecutive strikes in the 15th and 16th minutes propelled Cate’s girls soccer team to a 5-2 CIF Division VII playoff victory on Monday over visiting New Community Jewish.
Weis and Cusack were followed by goals from freshman Mable Sevina in the 21st minute and senior Mackenzie Walsh in the 36th, giving the Rams a commanding 4-0 halftime lead.
Annie Weis, left, and Brennan Cusack, right, combined on three different goals on Monday.
“I did feel like it gave us the momentum and was demoralizing, especially for the backfield and the keeper,” said Cate head coach Lisa Holmes, talking about the back-to-back goals that got things going.
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Weis, a sophomore, added another goal in the second half to total 19 on the season. Cusack’s score was her 14th of the season and the junior holds the team-lead in assists with 14 after three on Monday.
Cusack assisted on both of Weis’ goals and Weis tossed a throw-in that created Cusack’s score.
“We’re really close friends on and off the field so we seem to connect pretty easily,” Cusack said
New Jewish Community, which was missing five players including central midfielder Carmel Diamont, recovered in the second half as Emma Holley Ben Yehuda brought the score to 4-1 in the 46th minute.
“I expected them to come out with a different mindset in the second half and they did,” Holmes said.
Weis responded quickly to give Cate its four-goal cushion back, but Lauren Miller, who assisted on New Community’s first goal, scored her own a few minutes later.
“It was a shame because we wanted to do a little bit more today but that first half killed us,” said Jaguars head coach Mike Elias. “We won the second half 2-1. If we had started like we finished, it may have been a bit of a game.”
New Community Jewish’s roster, which was responsible for the school’s first-ever playoff victory last week, would have been without two more players had the game been played on Wednesday because many of Elias’ players are leaving for nonadjustable trips to Israel.
Both schools agreed to switch the game to Monday, giving the Rams four days to prepare for Friday’s quarterfinal match against either Alverno or South El Monte. Alverno is the favorite as the Division’s No. 3 seed.
“We’re definitely going to keep the pressure on ourselves. I know our coaches aren’t going to let us think that the next game is going to be easy because we all know it’s not going to be,” Cusack said.
Cate, co-champions of the Condor League, improves to 12-4 on the season after its second straight postseason victory.
“We didn’t get into CIFs last year, but this year our team has really bonded, we got a bunch of new players and we’re all really into it. We’re having a lot of fun,” Cusack explained.
Asked whether she thought her team was good enough to win a title, Holmes didn’t hesitate.
“I think it is.”
