As crazy as it sounds, jumping to a one-goal lead in the opening minutes of the match might have hurt Troy’s girls soccer team more than it ultimately helped against La Serna of Whittier.
“We were rolling early,” Warriors coach Ed Kephart explained. “The problem with getting an early goal is that you can get a little overconfident. I’d have preferred to wait another 10 minutes for that one.”
While Audrey Barrera’s strike in the fifth minute gave Troy the initial advantage, it was the Lancers who dominated in both possession and scoring opportunities over the final 75 minutes of a nonleague match that ended in a 1-1 draw Tuesday afternoon at La Serna High.
“We didn’t play particularly well,” Kephart added. “But give credit to La Serna. They have a couple special kids in the middle of field that caused us some problems.”
Troy forward Robyn Maurer made her presence felt immediately after the opening whistle, making several dangerous runs down the right sideline into the attacking third in the opening minutes of the match.
Her cross into the box in the fifth minute resulted in a goal, as Barrera capitalized on a loose ball after La Serna keeper Jezabelle Rubalcava was unable to hang on to it.
The Lancers tied the score, 1-1, five minutes later when senior midfielder Michelle Reed flicked a through ball to forward Miranda Yzabal deep into Troy’s box.
Warriors keeper Katelyn Carter was given a yellow card after colliding with Yzabal while attempting to secure the pass. On the penalty kick, Reed knotted the match with a confident strike.
“They got the penalty and we kind of wobbled a little bit at that point,” Kephart said. “We just weren’t connecting on passes. We weren’t in sync today.”
In other nonleague matches:
No. 6 Huntington Beach 3, Segerstrom 1: Kate Hart, who normally plays goalkeeper for the Oilers (10-1-3), came onto the pitch as a forward and drove home the go-ahead goal midway through the second half.
Junior forward Yvonne Martinez accounted for the Oilers’ other two goals and Sawyer Koelsch finished with a pair of assists.
Mater Dei 1, Santiago of Corona 1: Monarchs striker Josselyn Cabrera notched the equalizer late in the match at Santiago.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
