Fast start enough for Clovis North girls in CIF Central Section Division I victory

The Clovis North girls soccer team served notice Thursday that its frontline will be a force to be reckoned with in the CIF Central Section Division I playoffs.

The third-seeded Broncos got a couple of goals in the first 12 minutes of play from Mary Ramírez on assists from Cadence Whitley and cruised to a 4-1 quarterfinal win at home against Bakersfield High.

Their reward is a semifinal match next Tuesday (Feb. 22) against No. 2-seed Liberty High of Bakersfield. Liberty is seeded second with an 18-0-2 record.

“We didn’t know a lot about Bakersfield today, except that they were second in their conference,” said Clovis North head coach Nick Pappanduros. “They’re a well-coached team; they had a pretty good game plan.”

Bakersfield, which ended its season with a 17-4 record, couldn’t counter the offensive frontline of seniors Whitley, Ramírez and Mía Mirelez as they constantly kept peppering shots at a busy Driller goalie (Hayden Mauldin).

Giovanna Taglione scored on a header past the midway point of the first half, and teammate Rebhia Mansour added a fourth goal with less than 10 minutes left in the first half.

However, Bakersfield notched its only goal in the closing minute of the first half to make it 4-1.

Pappanduros said the Drillers’ goal was a wakeup call that the game wasn’t decided in the first half.

Bakersfield tried to serve the ball long but couldn’t crack the Clovis North defense.

“We made that adjustment and we came out firing from the beginning,” said Pappanduros, whose team improves to 19-2-1. “Our offense was our best defense today.”

Should Clovis North get to the championship match, Pappanduros would like to face top-seeded Buchanan. The TRAC rival has a win and a tie against Clovis North this season. Buchanan, which faces Arroyo Grande in the semifinals, has a 15-2-1 mark.

“I hope we get to play Buchanan,” he said.

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 17 de febrero de 2022, 11:09 p. m..