Valencia Shuts Out Rosary

Valencia Coach Dean Winther lost 85% of his offense to graduation last season, but Tuesday he got some of it back. Kate McFarland scored two goals to lead the Tigers to a 3-0 victory over Rosary in nonleague girls’ soccer at Valencia.

Last season Ali Nunez and Katie Eatherton combined for 71 goals for the Southern Section Division III finalists, but this season the Tigers’ leading scorer, Andrea Giambalvo has only five.

“Obviously our defense is our strength this year,” Winther said. “But as long as we can keep the other team from scoring, we should be able to score one or two ourselves and win games.”

Against Rosary (8-6), which was coming off a 2-1 victory Monday against Sonora, the Tigers not only got their goals, but the defense came up big again.

Forward Erin Duran started in goal for Valencia (5-3-1) in place of Griselda Garcia , who was benched for missing practice, and Duran immediately made a contribution. Three minutes into the game, Rosary’s Shauna Rech slammed a free kick from 25 yards that had Duran backpedaling into the goal, but she timed her jump perfectly and two-handed the ball over the crossbar. Duran finished with five saves.

Five minutes later, McFarland gave Valencia the lead when she drilled a ball at goalkeeper Kristina Fernandez, who knocked it down but couldn’t hold on, and the ball bounced into the goal.

Rosary controlled the ball for most of the second half, outshooting the Tigers, 9-2. However, Valencia made both of those shots count.

Jenner Yamane gave the Tigers a two-goal lead five minutes in, heading a throw-in past Fernandez, and McFarland put the game away with 15 minutes remaining. Melissa Loera sent a pass to Jenny Caldwell on the wing and Caldwell crossed the ball to McFarland, who easily knocked it in for the score.

“We’re just having a hard time finishing,” Rosary assistant coach Andrea Barclay said. “We get the ball where we want it, but we either wait too long or pass too much.”