Menlo closes out West Bay Athletic League Foothill Division title

Menlo School girls’ soccer coach Ross Ireland had an easy answer.

“It’s when the referee calls it.”

That was the gist of Thursday’s game when the Knights hosted Notre Dame-Belmont in a West Bay Athletic League Foothill Division showdown. The Knights only needed a tie to clinch the division title, while NDB still have a faint hope of catching the Knights.

But a pair of penalties called against the Tigers proved to be the difference in a Menlo victory. The first was saved by NDB goalkeeper Maddie Cummins, but the second one proved to be the game-winner as the Knights rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat the Tigers 2-1 and claim the division championship with one game remaining on the WBAL schedule.

“We only needed a draw,” Ireland said. “But from the start of the (WBAL) season, it’s about getting the points.”

The “points” to which Ireland referred are the three points a team gets for a win and one point for a tie.

For a while, however, it appeared Menlo (8-0-1, 25 points; 15-1-2 overall) might have to wait until next week to clinch the WBAL crown as NDB (5-3-1, 16 points; 13-5-1) led 1-0 at halftime.

Menlo had a chance to tie the game before halftime as sophomore midfielder Angelica Chou weaved her way into the penalty box, where she was greeted with a kick to the shins by a NDB defender.

Chou stayed strong on the ball, however, but whether the center referee saw or heard the kick against Chou’s shin guards, he blew the whistle and pointed to the spot.

This, moments after the Tigers’ plea for a handball against the Knights, fell on deaf ears.

In a case of “ball don’t lie,” Chou’s ensuing penalty shot was saved by Cummins, who dove to her left to smother the shot and then pounced on the rebound to keep the Knights off the scoreboard.

Menlo, however, would rally for a pair of second-half goals to pull out the win. The Knights tied it in the 46th minute when Chou bent a corner kick just inside the far right post.

Twelve minutes later, another strong on-the-ball display by Chou just inside the box resulted in her drawing a second penalty kick.

This time, it was Audrey Hochstetler who stepped up for the spot kick and calmly deposited it into the right corner to put the Knights up 2-1 in the 58th minute.

Ireland could understand the Tigers’ frustrations with the two penalties, but believed they were both justified.

“I hate diving, but a defender shouldn’t benefit from an infraction because a player toughed it out (and didn’t go to the ground). [Chou] tries to stay up,” Ireland said. “[Fans] want to see an almighty swing (of the foot), but a step on a foot is a foul.

“It’s a half foul there, and then another half foul. They add up.”

While the penalty kick ultimately decided the game, the Tigers certainly had their chances to add to their lead. In fact, NDB was all over the Knights in the first half, and it was a goal against the run of play that emboldened the Tigers.

The NDB defense weathered a Menlo attack, with a long clearance to the midfield circle. NDB’s Athena Carvallo brought the ball down, spun and pushed the ball into space and broke in on goal.

She hit her shot from about 25 yards out and with the Menlo goalkeeper playing slightly off her goal line, Carvallo’s shot just beat her over the top of her fingertips and under the crossbar for the 1-0 lead.

Carvallo proved to be a dangerous option for the Tigers, but they could not seem to hook up again.

In the second half, Ireland made a tactical move to better contain Carvallo.

“The second half, we had someone sit on [Carvallo] all half long,” Ireland said. “Just marked her out of the game.”

The plan worked perfectly as the Tigers’ dangerous scoring chances dried up in the second half.

The Knights, meanwhile, started the second much more determined, stringing passes together and looking to be the more dangerous side.

“They were a lot more relaxed than they were Tuesday (against rival Sacred Heart Prep),” Ireland said of his team. “We had a good talk at halftime and I asked them to find a way to bring more energy.”

Ireland also dropped Chou back a little bit deeper into the midfield, which opened things up for the Menlo offense to find more space.

“Going through her brought other players into the offense,” Ireland said.

The loss not only eliminated NDB from winning the division title, it also kept head coach Paul McCallion stuck on high school win No. 499.

McCallion has spent 31 years coaching high school girls’ soccer. He is in his seventh season with the Tigers, leading them to the 2019 Central Coast Section Division II championship. He spent eight years at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo before spending 16 seasons at Castro Valley, winning 12 Hayward Area Athletic League titles and the 2010 North Coast Section Division I championship.