South City girls’ soccer overcomes short roster to down Half Moon Bay 3-1

A majority of last season’s roster has returned. And while the Warriors (1-1 PAL Ocean, 3-5-1 overall) got off to a slow start, facing a challenging non-league schedule, the talent is still there with reinforcements in freshmen standouts Evey Sarron and Nydia Garcia giving South City hope of sustaining its success for years to come.

While head coach Brian Mansell is touting his deepest roster in recent years, the Warriors weren’t able to show it off in Saturday’s 3-1 home win over Half Moon Bay in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play. South City had just 12 players available, meaning most of the starters were charged with playing a full 80 minutes.

“The past couple years, we’ve been in this situation a lot; we’re always short players,” Mansell said. “This year we actually have depth. So, today was the first game when we were missing so many players. The seniors have been through this before, so it’s no big deal.”

The Warriors had five players out — three due to injuries, and another two on COVID protocol — with the biggest loss in midfielder Camila Arellano. The sophomore got hurt Jan. 6 in a 2-1 win over Aragon, and actually scored the game-winning goal on a free kick. After the game, however, she was diagnosed with a knee injury that will keep her out of action the rest of the season, Mansell said.

“It definitely is disappointing,” Mansell said.

In the wake of the disappointing news, though, the freshmen stepped up Saturday.

Sarron exemplified the short roster. The freshman, at 4-11, is admittedly “pretty short” herself. Mansell prefers to describe her as “feisty.” And in two of South City’s three wins this season, the box score describes her as the Warriors’ leading scorer, including Saturday when she totaled two goals.

In the 11th minute, Sarron got the Warriors on the board by dancing through traffic get an open look. Sarron had missed a previous chance in the third minute by chipping an attempt high over the crossbar. This time, she did not miss, weaving around two defenders to take aim from the inside the penalty hash and demonstrate she’s got plenty of power in her “pretty short” leg.

“Normally, you have to fake a shot, cross it to yourself in, and just shoot it,” Sarron said, “and it works every time. They get faked out by it.”

Gonzalez doubled the lead just before halftime off a free kick out of the corner. The pass found Gonzalez in a cluster of bodies just outside the keeper’s box and the senior used a high leg kick to redirect the inlet right on target for her third goal of the season.

Sarron’s second goal sealed the win, answering Half Moon Bay sophomore Isabel Ortega’s goal in the 52nd minute. The freshman capped the day’s scoring it in the 76th minute on an impressive assist from her fellow freshman Garcia, who pounded a long cross pass from near the sideline to connect with Sarron in stride as she ran through the box for a crisp shot from 15 yards out.

“That was an amazing cross,” Sarron said. “It had a lot of power on it, but I thought it was going to go over. But it hit my shin so it kind of went straight to it.”

While the matchup was the second league game for the Warriors, it was Half Moon Bay’s PAL Ocean Division opener. The Cougars are contending with personnel issues of their own and have been calling up junior-varsity players from game to game to fill out their roster.

Since winning the PAL Lake Division title in the shortened 2020-21 season and posting a 5-0-1 overall record, HMB (0-1, 4-4) is off to 4-4 overall start this year.

“We’ve gotten a lot better since last year, and we have a lot more players,” HMB sophomore Deja Spikes said. “Because last year, because of COVID, we barely had that many players. And some players actually left, but I think we’ve adjusted well with our new girls that have come so far.”

Spikes and junior Denely Acosta are two of the most experienced players on the merry-go-round roster.

“It really helps also because we’re friends on and off the field,” Spikes said. “So, I feel like we have good chemistry on the field and we’re really good at connecting. And we always have good attitudes, so that helps.”

Yet the Cougars are getting some contributions from newcomers as well. Ortega’s goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 was as surprise for several reasons. The breakaway through the middle of the field was a rare sight. It was the first breakaway goal for HMB this season, Spikes said.

It was also the first-ever varsity goal for Ortega, on what was one of her first chances of the year.

“She usually plays defense, so she was really happy about it, and we were all excited for her,” Spikes said. “It was a really good goal.”

South City is anticipating its rivalry game this week. After Tuesday’s home match against Capuchino, the Warriors travel to face their crosstown rival El Camino Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

“We knew we were going to be shorthanded today and the girls rallied up today and responded well,” Mansell said. “So, we’re proud of that. We’ll get back to full strength, or close to it, and we’ll go from there.”