By Rebecca Do
On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the girls’ soccer team won against Laguna Beach High School with a score of 2-1 in their last league game of the season.
In their last game of the season, the Barons prioritized defensive tactics as the Breakers took the offense.
At the start of the game, junior captain Kayla Knoob crossed to sophomore Joey Duong, which almost resulted in a goal for the Barons but ended in a corner kick. Following this, they inched closer to the goal, which led to another corner-kicked once again.
Afterward, a series of unfavorable kickoffs near the Baron’s goal ensued, which led to an unsuccessful shot in the eighth minute from Laguna Beach. However, this managed to play to the guest team’s advantage as the Breakers made a shot at the 30-minute mark, setting the score to 0-1 for most of the first half. The Baron’s defense stayed strong despite the setback.
Many close calls ensued between the Breakers and Barons, but neither of them managed to score. Senior captain and goalkeeper Nylah Mirshafiei blocked an incoming goal in the 25th minute.
And as if the roles reversed, a series of kickoffs near Laguna Beach put the guest team at a disadvantage. Then, with just four minutes left on the clock, junior Ariana Ramos made a goal against the Breakers.
The first half ended with a score of 1-1.
The second half of the game started at 3:52 pm with the Barons on the defense. Though later on, the Barons quickly took to the offense and attempted a goal four minutes in.
At 25 minutes, the referee called a timeout to attend to an injury sustained by the Laguna Beach goalkeeper. The game’s momentum died down afterward, leading to “sudden death” being called on as a last resort. In sudden death, the girls play ten minute halves until one team scores.
Just a little after the second half’s timer began, Duong scored the final goal, breaking the tie and giving the Barons their first win of Sunset Wave after two consecutive losses.
“We just wanted to win. We knew we were gonna win from the start. And we just kept that mentality. We wanted it,” Duong said.
Their “last game” of the season proved to be triumphant, and the possibility of making it to CIF (California Interscholastic Federation), with their current 9-9-3 win-loss-tie record. Being ranked 18 out of 66 teams in the Southern Section gives them a shot to apply for a large bid to CIF.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve done. We lost to Marina in the last two minutes of overtime sudden death, we tied Laguna last time on kind of a fluke goal. We lost to CDM with a weird second goal. [The games] just haven’t gone our way. So you know, today we finally earned that [win]” head coach Julie Scheppele said.
