In the end, the Sobrato High girls soccer team ran into a buzzsaw in the form of a powerhouse Mountain View squad. The Bulldogs saw their season end against the Spartans Tuesday in the form of a 4-0 drubbing against the Spartans in a Central Coast Section Open Division playoff semifinal at Milpitas High.
Despite the loss, Sobrato has plenty to be proud of. The Bulldogs finished 12-3-6 and qualified for the top division in the postseason. Their 1-0 win over Aptos last Saturday in the quarterfinals was historic in that it gave them their first-ever victory in the Open Division format.
“It was a big-time win against a really good team,” Sobrato coach Ted Thomas said. “Aptos is a phenomenal side, and to be able to walk away with a 1-0 win is huge for us.”
Olivia Adams scored the only goal of the match when she streaked in to drill home a rebound off the shot of teammate Katie Somavia in the 52nd minute.
“I just calmed myself, took my time to look at the ball and saw the corner was open,” said Adams, a junior center midfielder. “It was a matter of racing to the ball and getting to it first.”
Sobrato hadn’t generated many scoring opportunities until a torrid 10-minute stretch early in the second half that saw it change the outcome of the match.
“We were asking them to keep pushing forward, and that is one of the things Katie does really well,” Thomas said. “She pushes forward, got behind the defense and Olivia was there to put it away.”
Adams said the team had to shake off a first half that was affected by a lack of free flowing play.
“In the first half, our nerves got the best of us,” she said. “Our nerves were up obviously and we needed to be communicating more and play as a team. Our halftime talk really calmed us down, and we were able to unify and get the result we wanted.”
The victory over Aptos was especially gratifying considering the team was coming off a 4-0 drubbing against Pioneer in the regular-season finale. However, Sobrato rebounded with one of its best performances of the season.
“That Pioneer game was a tough loss,” Thomas said. “But we had some good practices after that, a lot of game rehearsal and a lot of game-like situation drills.”
The seniors on the team also gained a measure of redemption, as they exacted payback from three years ago, when Aptos knocked them out of the playoffs. The backline of senior Megan Rottenborn, junior Mallory Wayman and sophomore Kiana Ton along with goalkeeper Holly Rottenborn played an instrumental role in shutting down Aptos.
The Mariners had a handful of great scoring chances in the first half, only to be stifled for the most part in the final 40 minutes.
