Girls Varsity Soccer vs Malibu

February 12, 2020

Cate GVS 1 – 2 Malibu HS

Record: 7 – 5 – 2

Goal: Lilly Riehl (15 min); Malibu (50 min, 72 min)

Assist: Nemma Mugofwa (Corner Kick)

Saves: Taylor Kane (6)

On Tuesday evening the Cate girls varsity soccer team traveled down to Malibu to play against the Sharks in our first Division 6 CIF game.  Last year, we played in both a lower league and a lower division, so to even earn a spot in the playoffs was unexpected when the season began, but then felt increasingly promising as the season continued, and of, course, by the time we reached the tournament we had high hopes of winning it all.  As Naomi Shihab Nye so tangibly put it in her poem “High Hopes,” “It wasn’t that they were so high, exactly, they were more low-down, close-to-the-ground / I could rub them the way you touch a cat that rubs against your ankles, even if he isn’t yours.”  So yes, we all feel a bit heartbroken today to have such an abrupt end to our impressive season in which we really planned to continue.  On the other hand, the girls played so well and I think each of them knows that they did.

The game was a beautiful team effort that began with so much promise on a nice, big field, the sun setting over the Pacific.  We arrived exactly on time, focused, had a good warm-up, and were poised for the start of the game.  Malibu wasn’t expecting us to be as good as we were and for the first 50 minutes, we looked like the better team, though the Sharks had three strong individual players who were plenty threatening.  The combined efforts of defenders freshman Tamsyn Taptich, sophomore Olivia Dorion, and seniors Lea De Vylder and Kim Rogers were able to hold them off.  The Cate goal came only 15 minutes into the first half when we earned a corner on the right side thanks to the hard work of senior Grace Blankenhorn.  Senior Neema Mugofwa took the kick, our offense ran our set play, and junior Lilly Riehl scored near post in a goal that looked exactly as good as this one by USWNT’s Sam Mewis (really, this is the play we ran and it was phenomenal).   In the second half, we dominated for the first 10 minutes, creating opportunity after opportunity through our midfield and up the right side.  Junior Tali Nam, seniors Jolea Moes, Mugofwa and Blankenhorn certainly put the effort in pushing all the way forward and tracking all the way back.  However, with such a push forward on our part, we were caught by a counterattack through their center midfield and were scored on in the 50th minute.  That was okay.  We handled it well.  The game kept going back and forth in terms of who held better possession.  Then, with only 8 minutes left on the clock, a Malibu player tripped on the top of our box and the referee called a penalty kick.  Such is the game of soccer.  Junior Taylor Kane, as you know, is an incredible goalkeeper, but nothing could have stopped a perfect shot to the bottom left side netting and Malibu went up 2 – 1.  The team rallied with so much energy knowing that we could still score, that we had the ability. Kane and Rogers mobilized the defense.  Our entire team went up to play in the offensive third with only Taylor playing a sweeper-keeper behind the half-line.  The girls played the next precious 8 minutes almost entirely in the Malibu box and took two dangerous corners in that time.  But the final whistle blew without the result we wanted and as well as the team played, we had to walk away with the loss.  Oof.

Please congratulate the team when you see them on campus.  They worked hard for each other for more than three months and we will all miss our afternoons together.

A huge thank you from all the coaches for such a wonderful season to:

Grace Blankenhorn, Francesca Castellarin, Lea De Vylder, Oliva Dorion, Julianna Forry, Ali Istanbullu, Taylor Kane, Rachel Ma, Jolea Moes, Neema Mugofwa, Emie Nam, Tali Nam, Lilly Riehl, Kim Rogers, Tamsyn Taptich, Maddy Tunnell, Charlotte Weis, Finnian Whelan