Woodside leapfrogs M-A

Now it’s the Wildcats who are in control of their own destiny as they scored late in each half to post a 2-1 win at Woodside and leapfrogged the Bears to the top of the Bay Division standings.

With the win, Woodside (5-0-4 PAL Bay, 19 points; 9-4-5 overall) take a two-point lead over M-A (5-2-2, 17 points; 8-6-3) with one game left on the PAL schedule.

And while Woodside striker Mariam Yusuf continues her assault on PAL opposition — she scored both goals Tuesday to give her 13 on the season — the real star was the Wildcats’ defensive line and defensive play, in general.

“The defense was fantastic,” said Woodside head coach Alex Herrera. “Defense wins championships and today really showed that.”

Led by center back Tindra Eckstein, the Wildcats’ defense consistently turned away an M-A attack that controlled the pace of play and spent a bulk of the game in the Wildcats’ half of the field.

It seemed only a matter of time before the Bears would find the back of the net, especially in the first half, but time and again were turned back by the Woodside defense. M-A earned a pair of corner kicks in the first 10 minutes that were turned away and Eckstein poked away ball as Samantha Ruiz broke into the Woodside penalty box in the opening minutes, as well.

“One word we like to use is ‘relentless,’” Herrera said. “Tindra forces everyone around to her to up their level.”

That includes sophomore Piper Wollenberger-Oviedo, who spent most of the season as an attacking winger, before switching to right back a couple matches ago.

Why the sudden switch?

“She asked,” Herrera said. “We needed someone to keep pace with [the Bears] on the flank. … She did a great job stepping up.”

Wollnerberger-Oviedo looked like she had played as a defender her entire life, especially late in the game as M-A attacked in waves looking to get back in the game. In the 70th minute, with the Wildcats clinging to a 1-0 lead, Wollnerberger-Oviedo was in a race with M-A’s Alessia Bolanos, who won the ball on the left wing, with Wollnerberger-Oviedo on her shoulder.

Bolanos had a step on Wollnerberger-Oviedo as she angled into the penalty box, but Wollnerberger-Oviedo managed to get a foot to the ball just before their legs got tangled up and Bolanos went down.

Her appeal for a penalty fell on deaf ears and it proved to be a pivotal moment in the game as Woodside would double their lead minutes later. Acua Acosta made a run from midfield along the right sideline before sending a perfect cross-field pass to Yusuf, who first beat a defender and then the Bears’ goalkeeper to put the Wildcats up 2-0 with seven minutes left to play.

Turns out that was the game-winning goal as the desperate Bears came inches away from forging a tie in the final seven minutes and stoppage time.

M-A needed just two minutes to answer Woodside’s goal with one of its own as the Bears converted a corner kick in the 75th minute. Ruiz sent a cross to the back right post where she found Stella Hall, whose header hit off the underside of the crossbar and went straight down — just over the goal line — to give the Bears some hope.

And their prayers were nearly answered. The Bears earned another corner kick in the 77th minute and for a brief moment it looked like a repeat of their first goal: Ruiz, again, sent a cross to far right post.

Again Hall was there to head it on goal.

Again the ball hit the underside of the crossbar and went straight down — this time in the field of play. Despite a scrum in front of Woodside goalkeeper Giuliana Perez, she managed to keep the ball out of the net.

Perez was called into action one last time and while it won’t go down as a save, there is no doubt it prevented the Bears from tying the score. That’s because the ball came off the head of a Wildcats defender, a ball that skipped off her head and looked destined for the corner of the net, before Perez dove to her right and pushed the ball wide.

Woodside was in the position to win because of a 1-0 lead at halftime against the run of play. The Wildcats did an excellent job of absorbing the M-A attack for the first 25 minutes of the game before they started to exact some pressure on the Bears’ backline, earning a trio of corner kicks in the final 10 minutes of opening 40 minutes.

The first two came up empty, but the third time was the charm as Lilly Lyssand sent a cross into the middle of the penalty box, where Yusuf skied over everyone and headed the ball home to put the Wildcats’ up 1-0 in the 37th minute.

“We’ve been practicing set pieces,” Herrera said. “Games are won and lost on set pieces.”

While the Wildcats have the Bay Division lead, they still haven’t clinched the title. A win over Sequoia Thursday would wrap up the championship. But a tie or loss could open the door for M-A.

A Woodside tie and M-A win over Hillsdale would create co-champs. A Wildcats’ loss and Bears’ victory would give the crown to M-A.

“Job’s not done,” Herrera said. “[My team] knows the season isn’t over. We’re still undefeated (in Bay play) and we want it to end like that.”