McLane girls soccer survives stop-and-goal wait to reach brink of Division VI title
After playing only once in 10 days, the McLane High School girls soccer team could end up playing on three consecutive days after winning a delayed CIF Central Section Division VI semifinal against Desert High.
The 6-2 win on Monday during light rain and gusts of wind qualified the top-seeded Highlanders to host (16-13-1) the section finals against Rosamond High (14-12-1) at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Blame the weather for creating a rollercoaster ride for the McLane girls. A Feb. 22 match against Desert High was originally declared a forfeit loss in favor of McLane when the team from the Mojave Desert couldn’t travel because snow closed the Tehachapi Pass and the Grapevine.
“Desert forfeited in the semifinals but they play today, and now tomorrow we have to play the Valley (finals) because they couldn’t come through because of the weather,” said McLane High head coach David Álvarez.
“If we win tomorrow, then we go to sections on Wednesday. So, they have to play three games back to back to back,” said Álvarez. “We’re getting punished for being a No. 1 seed due to weather and them not being able to make it.”
The Desert team, which left at 7 a.m. for the 2 p.m. Monday match at McLane, put some scare into the home team by jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first 5 minutes of play, and later evening the score 2-2 in the first minutes of the second half.
That was courtesy of 5-foot-9 freshman Camryn Freeman who juked a trio of defenders to blast her first shot in and later booted a free kick for her second goal.
McLane responded midway through the opening half on the first of two goals by freshman midfielder Ashlee Salinas. Three minutes later, sophomore forward Celeste Thahane scored on a long-distance shot for a 2-1 advantage.
After Freeman knotted the match in the second half, senior forward Yadira Domínguez converted on the first of her two goals midway through the second half to give the Highlanders a lead they would never relinquish.
Desert split its two High Desert League matches with Rosamond, losing 5-3 on the road and winning 1-0 at home. Rosamond, which defeated No. 2 seed Dos Palos, 2-1, in the semifinals, is seeded third.
Álvarez, the McLane coach, depended on his three-headed monster: Domínguez, Salinas and Celeste Thahane.
Domínguez has a team-leading 36 goals, followed by Salinas with 30 and Thahane with 15.
“They’ve pretty much been steady all year,” said Álvarez of the trio.
The layoff and the uncertainty of when they would play factored on McLane’s sluggish start, said Álvarez.
“We’ve been on this roller coaster on when we’re playing or not,” he said. “We’re not playing. We’re playing. We’re not playing. It’s been up and down. It might have affected their concentration.”
In his 21 years as McLane head coach, Álvarez has never gotten a No. 1 seed. His teams have reached the finals twice, but have never won.
He could get his first section title if Domínguez and her teammates play they way they did in the second half against Desert.
Domínguez admitted the stop-and-go aspect of not knowing when the next game would arrive weighed on the team.
“We started off slow. The weather kind of messes up a little bit,” said Domínguez. “But, we finally got back on it and we won 6-2.”
If McLane wins Tuesday, it will have to travel to face Stone Ridge Christian of Merced (21-1-2) in a Wednesday Northern California Division V playoff match.
A McLane win would also give the southeast Fresno school a sweep after the boys captured the Division III championship last Friday.
