The St. Bernard’s girls returned to winning ways and moved clear at the top of the Redwood League standings with a 3-1 win at South Fork on Wednesday.
Also in action on Wednesday, the Ferndale Wildcats hosted the McKinleyville Panthers in a non-league game and won 6-0.
The Crusaders overcame an early deficit with three unanswered goals, posting their first win in two weeks.
The performance was a nice response from a young team that was coming off a 2-0 loss to Eureka over the weekend and was playing just its second game since opening league with a 5-0 win over Del Norte on Sept. 9.
“It was good to get back on the winning side of things,” said St. Bernard’s head coach Brandon Amis, whose team improved to 2-0 in the Redwood League (7-1-1 overall). “Once we settled in and got ourselves situated, the girls started playing their game.”
But they had to battle, overcoming an early deficit after South Fork’s Lilly Elizalde opened the scoring off a corner kick from teammate Kendall Kercher.
The lead, however, lasted only five minutes.
Influential senior Malia Masayos was involved in the first two SB goals, netting the equalizer off an assist from CJ Figas, and then turning provider and setting up impressive freshman Kinley Johnson for the go-ahead goal to give the visitors a one-goal advantage at halftime.
Johnson has hit the ground running in her first season of high school soccer and has been one the Crusaders’ most consistent and dangerous players through the opening half of the season.
Another freshman, Preslee Sundquist, doubled the Crusaders’ advantage in the second half, scoring off an assist from senior Sariah Vainuku.
Vainuku, who has been one of her team’s most impressive players in recent weeks after missing some time through injury early in the campaign, switched from midfield to forward because of some injuries and continued to excel.
“Her growth in the last three or four games is insane,” Amis said. “Sariah was on fire tonight.”
Defenders Carli Baum and Paula Bullock also impressed for the Crusaders, helping to anchor the back line while also directing some of their younger teammates and making their presence felt.
“I’ve really tasked them with communication,” Amis said of the seasoned defenders. “And those two have really stepped into the role of being strong leaders.”
There were several standouts for the Cubs as well, including Elizalde, who “moved the ball well to create offense and helped us use the whole field,” according to head coach Beth Anderson.
Goalkeeper Leyla Curia also impressed for the Cubs and finished the game with 18 saves.
“We had good defensive pressure and some nice passing,” Anderson added. “I’m proud of the girls for playing hard the whole game and working together.
“The midfield defended well and created offensive opportunities for us.”
Kamea Hawkins played a key role in that and made some good defensive plays for the team.
At Ferndale, meanwhile, the Wildcats took a break from league play and comfortably took care of business against the Panthers, improving to 5-3-1 on the season.
And they showcased their offensive depth with five different players scoring.
Sophomore Melina Pineda netted twice in the win, while junior Macie Hagemann was involved in four of her team’s goals, scoring one and assisting on three.
Teresa Catana-Moreno, Arlene Glines and Macie Wantt each also scored in the win.
“We played well,” Ferndale head coach Sam Licona said. “We tried a new formation — 5-3-2 defensively and 3-5-2 offensively — and it worked out well.
“I felt like we were very strong in midfield.”
In addition to Hagemann’s big day, freshman Suri Johnson also had a good game for the hosts, switching to right back and thriving in the new position.
Licona described her performance as “awesome.”
Catana-Moreno also impressed up front for the Cats despite battling an injury, as did Wantt, who has quickly settled in with the team after transferring from St. Bernard’s this year.
“Macie Wantt has done a heck of a job,” Licona said.
Ferndale will travel to play SB next Wednesday with the league lead on the line.
