With nine minutes left in the match Friday night, Sierra’s Zoe Sutton worked her way in front of the goal and took a pass from Aman Dhillon in the corner to put the Timberwolves ahead for good in a 3-2 Valley Oak League girls soccer win over host Manteca at Guss Schmiedt Field.
“I just saw Aman making that run, and I knew I had to get in the box because we needed a goal,” Sutton said. “It just went off my foot, and I saw the goal and I tapped it in.”
In the 24th minute, Haley Gama got Sierra (7-1 VOL, 16-3-2 overall) on the board with an arcing 25-yard shot from the near wing. Early in the second half, Hailey Cruz launched a long cross-field pass to Sutton, who worked her magic to give the Timberwolves a 2-0 lead.
“I saw (Hailey) Cruz and I was open,” Sutton said. “She hit the long ball, I let it go through and went 1v1 with the defender, faked the goalie and shot it.”
Sierra outshot the Buffaloes (1-7, 4-13-2) 19-5, with Abigail Frazer posting two saves.
“This was definitely our goal for this game,” Timberwolves coach Manuel Pires said. “We wanted to get the three points, and when we got that second goal it looked like we were on the right track. But you have to give it to them – they got that goal to make it 2-1, and then the PK. That’s how these games go.
“We created most of the opportunities, but we couldn’t get the ball in the net, and then when the game was tied, it was tough because they were trying to hold on to get at least a point out of this game. We knew this was going to be a battle all the way to the end.”
Manteca got on the board in the 58th minute on an unassisted goal by Serenity Cerritos to make the score 2-1. Three minutes later, Cerritos notched a penalty kick to tie the score.
Buffaloes goalie Keira McCulley made five saves.
“We bounced back,” Manteca coach Justin Coenenberg said. “It’s been a bit of a turbulent year for us, and I am just super proud of my girls. No matter what has been thrown at us this year, they always play hard.
“We went down, we came back and we almost pulled one off. Unfortunately, we fell a little short giving up that last goal at the end.”
On Wednesday night at 6:15 Sierra hosts Oakdale and the Buffaloes travel to Patterson.
Junior varsity
Sierra 5, Manteca 0
Kaylee Rodriguez notched a brace for the Timberwolves.
Sierra’s Scarlett Robertson, Ivy Sutton and Roxy Le each added a goal. Izabela Cruz posted an assist and Abby Garcia snagged two saves.
