The girls soccer team went up against Katella High School on Feb. 22 at the Allen Layne Stadium for the second round of CIF. After the extreme tension that the girls experienced in their previous play-off game against La Quinta, which ended in a tie in regular and over time, and the game had to be determined in by penalty kicks; the Lady Vikes came out as the winners, the girls were ready to give it their all against Katella. Determined to not allow the game to get to those measures again, the girls came out with a winning mentality against the Katella Knights.
The game started off tight, neither team allowing the other to get past their defensive lines, but soon enough the Vikings were able to gain control of the ball as well as the game. This allowed them put pressure on the Knights’ defense and goal keeper. After a couple of plays a foul was made on forward Braylyn Bennett a couple feet outside of the eighteen yard box. Center midfielder Krista Velasco made the free kick, sending the ball to the far side of the goal, and left midfielder Elizabeth Ham made the run behind the opposing defender and kicked it into the goal.
“I got really excited when I saw the ball go into the net.” Elizabeth, 11 said. “Then, when my teammates ran to hug me I was really happy that we had gotten an early lead!”
Downey continued to dominate the game throughout the first half with several dangerous plays that the girls were unable to finish. Towards the end of the first half and after a series of rebounds, Ham passed the ball to center midfielder Claudia Lopez, who kicked towards the bottom left corner, making it impossible for the Knights’ goalie to block. The score left the Lady Vikes with another goal, leaving the score at 2-0.
During the second half, Katella came out determined to put up a fight and make their mark on the scoreboard. However, with junior Denisse Quan, senior Alexandria Oropeza, sophomore Maritza Acuña, and senior and Captain Andrea Rodriguez as the defenders for Downey they were able to easily stop the opposing teams’ offense.
“I was confident every time I would go up against Katella’s forwards because I knew that I could win the ball every time and pass it to my teammates so that they could score,” Acuña, 10 said.
Even though the Lady Vikes were unable to score in the second half, they did not give their opponents an easy time because they were constantly generating dangerous plays. Towards the end of the game, forward Charlotte Chavarria made a pass through the defense for Emilie Botello to make the run and take the ball into the box. Botello’s attempt to make the third goal was stopped with a block by the goalkeeper. With this win, Downey will now move on to the quarter finals and hope to continue with their winning streak and to hopefully make it to the championship game.
“My team played our game,” Krista Velasco, 11 said. “We didn’t fall to the other team’s way of playing and kept possession which led to the 2 goals and win!”
The Lady Vikes faced Ontario Christian on Feb. 24 for CIF quarter finals and came out victorious with a score of 1-0. They moved on to the semi finals to face Cajon on Feb. 28 and came out with a 1-0 victory. They are now scheduled to go against La Serna for the Div. 5 CIF Championship on Mar. 3 at Mission Viejo High School.
