A statement victory

Sequoia, which finished runner-up to South City last season, moved past the Warriors and into first place with a convincing 3-0 win in South San Francisco Tuesday.

“I’m super proud of them,” said Sequoia head coach Melissa Schmidt of her team. “We’ve had a hard time finishing (this season). I didn’t want them to walk off the field and say, ‘I could have done more.’”

The Warriors are finding out they are getting everyone’s best shot in league play. They showed some vulnerability with a league-opening draw with Hillsdale. Tuesday, they got off to a slow start as the Cherokees took the game to them. Starting a pair of freshmen and three sophomores, Sequoia simply wanted it more. The Cherokees were the crisper of the two teams, won more challenges on the ball and did a good job of moving the ball around the field with precision passing. Essentially doing everything the Warriors weren’t.

“We just weren’t in the game — at all — from the start,” said South City head coach Salvador Navarro. “We were making simple mistakes.”

It took a few minutes for Sequoia (4-1 PAL Ocean, 6-5-3 overall) to get into the flow of the game, but when they did, they dominated — especially in the first half when the Cherokees scored twice.

South City (3-1-1, 9-3-2) showed more urgency in the second half, but Sequoia’s defensive line prevented from putting many shots on goal. In fact, the Warriors had only one shot over the final 40 minutes — a harmless attempt from about 35 yards that sailed safely well over the top of the goal.

“The thing with this (South City) team … they have talent,” Schmidt said. “Last year, we were up 3-0 here (in South City) with eight minutes left and they tied it up. That’s why those last 10 minutes, they were still playing hard.”

Sequoia opened the scoring in the 13th minute when the Cherokees earned a corner kick. Sophomore Heather Benway sent a cross to the front of the goal that the South City goalkeeper failed to punch away. The ball landed at the feet of freshman Reese McKeon at the far left post, who poked into the far right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Sequoia doubled their lead four minutes later on a brilliant run from Benway. Using her speed, she stepped in front of a South City player and stole the ball about 70 yards from the Warriors’ goal. She then sprinted past the South City defense and buried a shot from 15 yards out into the far right corner for a 2-0 advantage.

South City, however, certainly had its chances, but they were turned aside by Sequoia’s junior goalkeeper Jennifer Billman. A minute after McKeon’s goal, the Warriors’ had a breakaway on goal as Alex Arouxet-Jara sent a perfect through pass to a streaking Fatima Waldo-Garcia.

Billman came off her line and met Waldo-Garcia in the middle of the penalty box, making a kick save of the shot to thwart the attempt.

A little more than 10 minutes after the Cherokees’ second goal, Billman denied South City again. Iliana Sanchez put a shot on goal following a scramble off a corner kick. But Billman, who was stationed just a few yards away, parried the ball away, where it was eventually cleared by the Sequoia defense.

“We had the opportunities,” Navarro said. “They had three (chances) and they scored two. We had four and got none.”

Midway through the second half, the Cherokees got some breathing room when Citlali Santos Jauregui took a perfect through pass from Celina Rincon Castaneda, right through the heart South City defense. With the Sequoia goalkeeper charging out to meet Sanchez Jauregui, she calmly chipped the ball over and into the left corner of the net to round out the scoring.

“I think the mental aspect of winning this one … is really big,” Schmidt said. “Now, [my team] sees what I knew we could do.”