Sometimes it just takes a little patience and one pass to win a soccer game.
The Sobrato girls soccer team survived a barrage of offense for the first 25 minutes against Christopher, relying on stellar keeper play and a solid defense, to pull off a 2-0 win Dec. 2.
The Bulldogs improved to 2-0 on the season after defeating Gilroy 2-1 earlier in the week.
Then in the 36th minute, Camila Santana brought the ball up the sideline and had a tremendous through ball to Kayla Morales who took it the rest of the way.
“Cami has had a slow start for us this year, but I think she found her niche in this game with that beautiful ball to Kayla Morales who used her body and great composure to put it away,” said coach Jason Carreras.
Morales out ran the defense and tapped the ball past Christopher’s keeper who went for broke trying to cut Morales off in the box.
It was a blow to the Cougars who had five shots on goal in the first half and had several great looks at the net before Morales stole the momentum.
Christopher nearly got on the board in the fifth minute when a free kick about 30 yards out tracked for the top of the cage.
Keeper Sarah Somavia made a leaping stop to keep the ball out, but the momentum nearly went back into the net.
Somavia made a diving stop to keep the ball from crossing the line and kept Sobrato in the game.
She had six saves against seven shots on target for the Bulldogs. Sobrato’s defense came up with the seventh save.
“It was evident they were trying to chip her the entire game,” Carreras said. “She held her post and was great in the back.”
Christopher’s attack was relentless in the first half, led by Aurea Martin who used her speed to cause problems in the final third of Sobrato’s zone.
That opened up plays for Natalie Smith, Sarrah Vasquez and Fatimah Ahmad who had good looks through out the night, but weren’t able to completely solve the Bulldog defense.
Carreras said he really credited the defense for sticking with the game plan to overcome the slow start. He singled out Santana for keeping with it despite having to play through a recovering injury to maintain the structure in the back.
That ultimately is what set up the Bulldogs’ opening goal as that structure opened up countering opportunities that eventually got Morales into space and let Sobrato take a lead late in the first half.
Meanwhile, after Sobrato scored to go up, the Bulldogs found another gear to keep the pressure on the Cougars.
Emily Pfefferlen had a relentless attack on the Christopher net, but couldn’t quite get her shots to cross the line.
But she did set up the sequence that led to Sobrato’s second goal.
Early in the second half, Pfefferlen found herself on a break and lined a shot that was just stopped by Christopher’s keeper.
But the ball wasn’t corralled and Nora Espinal—who was trailing the play—caught up to the rebound at the top of the box and finished with a brilliant strike for a 2-0 lead in the 46th minute.
“We have four goals in two games and three of those have come from high pressure,” Carreras said. “Just winning that ball and not giving up in our attacking third. We’re proud of the girls for that especially because we’re playing such a structured game in our defensive third.”
Not two minutes later, Pfefferlen nearly made it 3-0 had an opportunity broken up deep inside the penalty. Morales followed in the 51st minute when she found herself on a breakaway that the CHS keeper made a great play on to deny her a second goal.
Morales had one last chance in the 58th minute on a pass from Pfefferelen that was broken up by the CHS defense.
From there, Sobrato relied on its defense to carry them home.
The Cougars’ Samantha Rabusin had one final chance at cutting the deficit down, but her shot in the 78th minute went high.
Sobrato will next travel to Valley Christian Thursday for a 3:15 p.m. game.
The Bulldogs will remain on the road through the month of December, traveling to Aptos next Wednesday.
Sobrato will have one game in Morgan Hill when the Bulldogs take on Live Oak on Dec. 16 before closing out the nonleague schedule at Hollister.
