ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - The Liberty Ranch High School girls soccer team traveled up from Galt to play the Monterey Trail High School girls soccer team on Friday Jan. 2. The game started at 6:30 p.m. with windy weather, making it difficult to direct a ball when it is kicked in the air.       

Coming into the game the Liberty Ranch Hawks had a staggering 9-1-1 overall record, with a 3-0 league record. The Hawks looked to continue a four-game win streak they had started after tying with Colfax High School, 0-0, on Dec. 8.                     

The Mustangs were 4-3-5 on the season, with a 1-0-1 league record. They were looking to get back into the win column after taking a 1-0 loss to West High School in Tracy on Dec. 30.  

 

#30, Not Rostered, Watching Ball After Corner Kick Attempt 

Although both teams were fighting the wind, both went back and forth applying pressure while on offense, only to come up short due to both defenses making blocks on shot attempts, and clearing the ball to get their offense started. With just above six minutes left in the first half, Liberty Ranch was able to attack down the field and score the first goal of the game.                     

Soon after, the clouds started to open up. The Mustangs continued to fight for the duration of the first half, putting themselves in scoring opportunities but not being able to convert and going into halftime down by one.                 

Going into the second half, the Mustangs applied pressure to make the Hawks focus on defense. But the Hawks were able to constantly stop the Mustangs’ attempts on goals, then clear the ball out of their half of the field.     

 

 Freshman Anabella Rodriguez, No. 10. gets physical for a ball in the air. 

The Hawks had their fair share of attempts on goals but were stopped by the Mustangs’ defense and goalie, keeping to only one goal.      

Knowing the numbers of attempts to score were going down for the Mustangs to tie the game, they were playing as fast as they could, looking for more scoring opportunities. They even pulled their goalie from the box in attempts to help on offense, but that was not enough.  

Liberty Ranch won the game 1-0, pushing them to 10-1-1 on the season and dropping Monterey Trail to 4-4-5 on the season.                    

The Mustangs are still looking to get back into the win column as they finish the rest of the season playing Delta League teams.