Carlmont girls' soccer on a mission

But for Carlmont, the game took on added meaning. A perennially CCS playoff team, and the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division champion as recently as the 2019-20 campaign, the Scots were moved into the Ocean Division this season following a weak showing during the COVID-truncated 2021 spring season.

As such, Thursday's game became a referendum of sorts for Carlmont, not only to prove to the PAL it was wrong in demoting the Scots, but also to show the Scots are still one of the best teams in the section.

So there was a little more urgency on the Scots end and it showed as they scored three times in the first 20 minutes and went on to post a 4-0 win over the Tigers.

“Excellent (performance) on our part,” said Jillian Quan, Carlmont's first-year head coach. “They did everything I asked of them. We came out to play with good intensity.”

Carlmont could not have picked a better person than Quan to take over the program from John Wilkinson, who is working with Quan this season but will step down at its conclusion. While it may be Quan's first head coaching gig, what she may lack in coaching experience, she makes up for with Carlmont history.

Quan starred for the Scots in the late 2000s and early 2010s, a four-year varsity player who qualified for the CCS playoffs all four years. She fully understands what it means for the Scots to be playing in the Ocean.

“We want to send a message that we didn't want to move down (from the Bay),” Quan said.

Despite the lopsided-looking score, the game was much closer than the scoreboard indicated. The match basically came down to taking advantage of scoring opportunities. Carlmont connected on its first three shots of the game, while the Tigers had seven shots in the first half, four on goal, and six more in the second half, with another two on frame.

“It's one of those games where we outshot them and gave up four goals,” said NDB head coach Paul McCallion. “Even at 3-nothing, we still thought we could get something out of it.”

It was NDB (5-4) that had the first chance, but in the eighth minute Carlmont goalkeeper Kylie Rouspil won a 50-50 ball with NDB's Carly Sullivan.

It seemed an innocuous play — until Carlmont (2-2-2) went the other way for a 1-0 lead a minute later. Scots' midfielder Capa Ruhstaller sent a pass toward the right side to Carlmont's Swiss army knife Maya Blodgett, who is one of the most complete players in the PAL.

Blodgett took the pass, beat a Tigers' defender around the corner and broke on goal. NDB goalkeeper Elle Rau came off her line to cut down the angle and Blodgett picked out the far left post and let loose a shot.

There was some uncertainty if her aim was true, but freshman striker Kaylee Kim stayed with the play, hustled into the NDB goal box and poked home the first goal of the game.

NDB responded with two more prime chances, both off corner kicks. On the first, Carlmont's Rosupil batted the ball away and ate up the rebound shot with a body save. Minutes later, a one-timer off a corner was cleared off the line by Carlmont defender Samantha McKenna.

Shortly thereafter, Carlmont got it's second chance and did not miss as Kim showed that she will be a threat to the PAL for the next several years. Off a long through ball from Carlmont's own end, Kim latched onto the pass and blazed past her defender and easily beat the goalkeeper for a 2-0 in the 16th minute.

Two minutes later, it was 3-0. Blodgett took a pass on a free kick. She turned left and from the top corner of the penalty box, looped a shot over the goalkeeper's head.

The Tigers, to their credit, kept attacking and kept coming up empty. Ava Jarolimek had a partial breakaway attempt go by the wayside as she chipped a shot over the goal in 19th minute. Jarolimek was denied again in the 36th minute, as Rouspil managed to get a hand on the shot and redirected it just enough that it skipped off the crossbar.

In the second half, the Tigers continued their direct approach, sending long through ball to their forwards, but the Carlmont defense did well to cut off the attacks time and again.

“I thought our defense did a good job closing down their breakaways,” Quan said.

Neither team had especially dangerous passes in the second half, “Second half was more of a stalemate,” Quan said, but it was the Scots who scored the only goal. Emilie Brack hit and hard, low, line drive on goal from 25 yards out — in baseball parlance, it would been called a “seeing-eye single.” The ball got through all the traffic and past the screened goalkeeper into the far right corner to close out the scoring in the 70th minute.

“I told [the team] every game counts for points to CCS,” Quan said. “Every win we can get, every point will help us (toward the playoffs).”