Mater Dei’s girls team soccer ended a four-game winless streak with a 2-0 victory over visiting Long Beach Wilson on Friday in a pool play game in the Mater Dei Premier Invitational.
Mater Dei had not won a game since its season opener on Dec. 1, losing twice and drawing twice since then.
“I was really pleased at the consistency keeping the ball and keeping them (Wilson) under pressure,” said Mater Dei coach Matty West. “We created a lot of opportunities and its nice to see us convert a few of them.”
Mater Dei (2-2-2) controlled the ball for the majority of the first half, but came away without any goals. The Monarchs tried to feed the ball through Wilson’s defense to Haley Hopkins, last season’s Trinity League MVP, but had no success in the opening half.
Meanwhile, the Monarchs’ defense rarely allowed Wilson (3-3-1) to push the ball deep into Mater Dei territory.
In the second half, Mater Dei’s constant attack began to wear down Wilson’s defense. Mater Dei failed to convert on two prime scoring opportunities before Lily Slater found Hopkins, who fought her way through the defense to put the Monarchs on the board.
A few minutes later, Hopkins perfectly played a ball on the ground through the Wilson defense to a streaking Emma Clark, who buried her shot into the net.
Mater Dei reached the quarterfinals of the Division 1 playoffs last season, but are not ranked in the top 10 this season.
“I feel like we are growing into our identity and I am really excited about this group,” West said. “We just need to work on our confidence and to trust each other.”
Villa Park will play Tesoro in a semifinal today at 10 a.m. Huntington Beach will play Cathedral Catholic of San Diego in the other semifinal at 10 a.m. The tournament final is at 3 p.m.
