With a ball rolling toward the box, Gilroy’s keeper came up to meet it as her defense converged on the same spot. In the confusion of bodies going for the same ball, Sobrato’s Emily Pfefferlen came charging up.
She stole the ball, got it past Gilroy’s goalie and tapped it in for a goal.
It was Pfefferlen’s second goal of the half and it put Sobrato up 3-1, where the game stood till the end.
“Since we picked the team during tryouts, we as coaches have been preaching pressure, pressure, pressure and that’s what’s going to win us games this year and that is what will catch people off guard is pressure,” said Sobrato Coach Jason Carreras.
Pfefferlen’s two second-half goals pushed broke a 1-1 from the first half and handed the Bulldogs a win in their first game of the season.
Gilroy, meanwhile, fell to 0-3 in the young season, coming off a 1-0 loss to Live Oak on Wednesday and a 2-0 loss to Aptos on Monday.
The first half, Gilroy held Sobrato’s attack at bay as the Mustangs’ defense organized well in the latter third of the field.
“In the first half, we were dominating,” said Gilroy coach Tim Gaylord. “Like you said, in the half court, it was like we were playing half-court basketball against them.”
Sobrato wasn’t without chances, as Pfefferlen and Kayla Morales both used their speed to get behind the defense on two occasions, but both attempts went wide.
The Bulldogs broke through in the 37th minute when Keana Skurla sent a through-ball up the weak sideline where Morales was charging up.
She took the ball near the corner, took it behind he defense and placed a well-aimed shot for a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute.
“With five minutes left, for a bench player to come off, get on the field and assist to another player … it was production right off the bench, it was great,” Carreras said.
The lead was short lived as Gilroy went on the counter with Sam Gonzalez taking a strong shot from distance that Sobrato keeper Hazel Sanz made a great save to keep it out of the net.
Sanz, however, couldn’t control the rebound and Chelsea Robles swooped in and punched the ball in to tie the game in the 40th minute.
“Tonight we finally got one. We haven’t been very successful in our first couple of games getting inside the box and shooting,” Gaylord said. “So tonight it was nice to see that they’ve been developing in a short amount of time.”
Sobrato had to wait the length of halftime to get a chance to retake the lead, but not much longer.
Gaylord said his girls were playing very well together at the close of the half, but that didn’t carry on into the second half and Sobrato’s playmakers took advantage.
Kayla Rebozzi took a shot on goal that Gilroy’s keeper made a sliding save, but Sobrato kept attacking.
Pfefferlen was there to attack the rebound and on her second strike at it, put the ball in to break the tie in the 43rd minute.
From there, Sobrato dominated time of possession leading to Pfefferlen’s second goal in the 59th minute.
“For Emily to have that mentality to keep going and poke it away and get there before (the keeper) can, that’s stellar,” Carreras said. “There’s nothing better than that. To score off that and finish it, there’s nothing better than that.”
Gilroy now moves on to start the Watsonville Tournament, 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Sobrato will travel to Salinas on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game.
