St. Monica Academy girls’ soccer gets two hat tricks to top Holy Family
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GLENDALE — A season removed from appearing in the playoffs, the St. Monica Academy girls’ soccer team is now rebuilding.
Just don’t expect second-year coach Martin Gonzalez to take too long to complete the makeover. He’s got a freshman forward on the rise to help speed things up.
St. Monica received three goals and two assists from Caterina Marji and three goals from Karina Martin on Wednesday to record a 7-0 nonleague home win against Holy Family at the Glendale Sports Complex.
“Last year, we had quite a few returners and we did so well on defense,” said Gonzalez, whose team took third in the Heritage League before falling to Wildwood in a CIF Southern Section Division VII wild-card match last season. “Now we have a bit of a younger team and we have some talented forwards who are capable of scoring.
“So, we’re building a little bit and we have some pieces in place. We want to be able to try to control the midfield and then generate good scoring chances. We were able to do that today.”
St. Monica (1-1) jumped on Holy Family (0-2), building a 3-0 halftime advantage.
Marji opened the scoring off a rebound in front of the net in the ninth minute. Martin then took a pass inside the box from Marji to extend the lead to 2-0 in the 34th minute. Martin later received a pass from Marji in front of the net and made it 3-0 with about a minute remaining in the first half.
“I came out very focused and looked for different ways to contribute,” Marji said. “You just try to find ways to shoot and make good passes and good things will happen.
“You have to be able to analyze the different situations and be in the right position to make the play. We feel like we have a very good team that can do some real good things.”
Martin completed her hat trick three minutes into the second half. An own goal by Holy Family made it 5-0 in the 46th minute.
Marji scored her final two goals about 10 minutes apart late in the second half to complete the scoring.
St. Monica limited Holy Family to two shots on goal, both in the second half.
Holy Family’s Brianna Cindrich had the two best scoring opportunities, one in each half. Cindrich lined a direct kick just over the crossbar from about 30 yards in the second minute. She later took a shot that went over the crossbar in the 48th minute.
Holy Family second-year coach Sal Sarmiento said the Gaels, who didn’t qualify for the playoffs last season, remain a work in progress.
“We’re still learning and we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there,” Sarmiento said. “I want them to get more experience and be able to learn from their mistakes.
“We do need to do a better job at communication between the goalkeeper and the defense.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
