The Fortuna Huskies stretched their unbeaten run to three straight games in girls soccer over the weekend with a comfortable 4-1 win over Redwood League leaders St. Bernard’s.
Jozlyn Dahl scored all four goals in the win, and the team defense made it count with a big performance against a Crusaders side that had lost just once all season coming into the game.
With the win, the Fortuna girls improved to 8-2-2.
The Huskies started well and took an early lead when Dahl netted off a beautiful pass from teammate Eryn Hunter.
The early goal seemed to spur the Huskies.
“After that, we controlled the game with our passing and created several chances but just couldn’t find another goal,” Fortuna head coach Arnulfo Aguirre said.
The Crusaders, however, would respond when Paloma Granados scored from long range to tie things up and the momentum began to shift.
“The girls kept their cool and continued to play our game,” Aguirre said. “We kept putting pressure on them.”
That pressure paid off when Fortuna was awarded a penalty kick late in the opening half, and Dahl took full advantage after SB goalkeeper Kaitlyn Amis initially saved her shot, jumping on the rebound and scoring to make it 2-1.
Both teams came out a little flat in the second half, with the midfields battling back and forth and neither side able to create much of a scoring threat.
Dahl would add two more goals later in the period, the first when she pounced on a St. Bernard’s goal kick and slotted home, and the second off a wonderful through ball from Emma Crotty.
And that would prove to be more than enough for the Fortuna defense and goalie Bryce Sanderson, who came up with some big saves to help preserve the lead.
Audrey Hayes also impressed and helped anchor the Fortuna defense, coming up with “some big plays when we needed them” according to the coach.
“Shoutout to all my defenders for another great defensive performance,” Aguirre said. “Everyone stepped up and did their job.”
So too did midfielders Lania Fontaine, Jamilet Miranda-Ortega and Hunter, each of whom made their presence felt on the way to victory
“Overall, I was really proud of how the girls stayed composed and kept playing our game after the momentum shifted,” the Fortuna coach added. “And this was our best performance of the season.”
Next up, the Huskies will host McKinleyville on Tuesday afternoon.
For more on the Crusaders, see our weekend girls soccer roundup.
