Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ soccer blanked by Buckley
GLENDALE — Jennifer Matsuda didn’t seem to mind being peppered with a lot of shots.
The Glendale Adventist Academy senior girls’ soccer goalkeeper and her teammates entered Tuesday’s Liberty League home contest a bit rusty by virtue of only having played two matches to go along with a limited amount of practice time.
“It’s good to get back to playing games,” said Matsuda, who finished with 15 saves in Glendale Adventist’s 8-0 defeat against Buckley at the Glendale Sports Complex. “I haven’t had much time to practice and I just want to go out there and try to improve.”
Matsuda, a first-year goalkeeper, did her best to keep the Cougars (1-2, 1-1 in league) within ear shot of Buckley (3-5, 1-0). However, Glendale Adventist rarely entered Buckley territory and didn’t record a shot.
Buckley received a natural hat trick in the first half from Ann Manella. Manella completed her hat trick in a six-minute span early in the first half. She opened up the scoring in the sixth minute before tallying goals in the 11th and 15th minutes.
Glendale Adventist first-year Coach Danny Castañaza said the Cougars, who only won two matches last season, couldn’t get on track in the opening minutes before yielding five first-half goals. Alexis Eka and Clem Callaway added first-half goals in the 19th and 39th minutes, respectively. Joline Nehoray contributed a pair of second-half goals.
“We were just really rusty and it clearly showed,” said Castañaza, whose team began league action Dec. 3 with a 2-1 victory against Yeshiva. “It was tough to get anything together, but we are hopeful to learn from this.
“We don’t want to have another loss like this one. I told them to remember how it feels now, but make improvements going into the next game.”
Matsuda finished with 10 saves in the first half, many of them in close.
“You want to go out there and be dedicated, and that’s something that can help bring you a victory,” Matsuda said. “I enjoy playing in goal and you just keep learning and improving.”
Glendale Adventist will next take part in a league road match against Oakwood on Thursday.
