Girls soccer: Terra Linda takes Tam to the limit in 1-1 tie
The Terra Linda High girls soccer team was mere minutes away from earning a potentially famous win on the road against Tam on Tuesday.
The Trojans, who haven’t defeated Tam in at least a decade, held a lead into the 79th minute but were denied all three points when Lauren Willard scored on a penalty kick that resulted in a 1-1 tie.
“At the end of the day it was a good result for us,” TL coach Dylan Arroyo said. “On MaxPreps it says we’ve lost to Tam 10 times in a row so we haven’t gotten a result. Obviously a win would have been nice but at the same time they had some good chances at the end so we’ll take the tie.”
Both teams came out of the gate slowly on the offensive end but TL (5-2-3, 1-0-1 MCAL) came up with the breakthrough after Josie Quinby fired a shot toward goal that took a deflection off a defender and went into the side netting for a corner kick in the 34th minute.
A lot of TL’s best scoring chances come from set pieces. Rashell Diaz takes the vast majority of the team’s corners and free kicks and she served a dangerous ball deep into Tam’s six-yard box.
“Normally in that area, I always try looking for one of my teammates who are really tall and good at hedging the ball,” Diaz said. “I try to find the area where all the people are bunched up in and I always aim for one of their heads because at one point it’s either going to bounce in or bounce out.”
Both Remi David and Quinby put pressure on Tam’s back line and the ball deflected off the head of a defender and into the net to give the Trojans the 1-0 lead.
“My teammate Rashell, she played a really great ball in,” David said. “I think it was an own goal by Tam but I did put pressure on it. One of their players did head it in but yeah it was all (Rashell). She had such a great ball in.”
Tam (6-2-5, 1-0-1) turned up the pressure in the second half and created a couple of chances on corner kicks of their own in the 56th and 58th minutes. Willard took both corners, just missing Lily-Rose Espinasse on the back post on the first corner then finding Sawyer Merrick for a header that went wide right on the second one.
TL’s defense was stretched to about the breaking point in the 63rd minute as Tam came excruciatingly close to scoring – one shot attempt cleared off the line by a defender then another stopped by the goal post a few seconds later.
“I want to compliment Remi David – I thought she was the player of the match,” Tam coach Dave Presher said of TL’s new center back. David transferred from Redwood and played in her third match at center back for TL since becoming eligible.
After surviving Tam’s best scoring chance to date, Arroyo moved Quinby from striker to center back – the position she plays for club – to try bolster the back line and see the game out.
Tam created a few more chances in the final 10 minutes then finally found the breakthrough when Willard made a dangerous run through the defense and was tugged down inside the 18-yard box.
“We were completely dominating the game and we started playing in some longer balls into the box, which is not our typical style, and it just ended up like a mess,” Presher said. “Then Lauren dribbled a few people then they took her out.”
Willard went to her left with the penalty kick. TL goalie Josephine Fetterman-Riggle got her fingertips to the ball but the shot was too strong to be kept out and Tam rescued a point.
Despite being denied a win, the point could prove pivotal for the Trojans as they try to end a playoff drought that stretches back to the 2017-18 season. TL finished fifth that year and lost to Marin Catholic in the first round. The Trojans finished fifth the following season but the MCAL playoffs had been whittled down to the top four teams.
The MCAL playoffs have been expanded back to six teams this season and, with four points from two games, the Trojans have put themselves in a good early position.
“(The result) was really important for us because I feel like the games for us that will definitely determine our ranking is Tam and MC,” Diaz said. “Our goal was to either win the game or tie the game so we can at least get ourselves up on the board and try get ourselves into the quarterfinals and — if its possible — to the semifinals.”
Around the county
- Six different players found the back of the net as Branson defeated Archie Williams 6-0 on Tuesday. Ava Grevelding and Anya Sridharan scored in the first half to give the Bulls (11-1-1, 1-0-1) a 2-0 lead. Ally Hsieh, Sophia Arnal, and Catrin Howell all scored inside the first seven minutes of the second half to turn the game into a rout. Giselle Hernandez capped the scoring against the Peregrine Falcons (2-4-3, 0-2-0). Hsieh, Julia Myerberg, Whitney Collet, and Luna Diaz all had assists.
- Sarah Farese had two goals and Teagan McCormick had two assists to lead Redwood to a 4-0 win against San Rafael (9-3-0, 0-1-0) on Tuesday. Evelyn Spiegel and Shona Gallagher also scored for Redwood (6-2-3, 1-0-1) and Zoe Clark had an assist.
- Marin Catholic surged to a 6-1 victory against San Marin (2-5-0, 0-2-0) on Tuesday night. MC (6-2-2, 2-0-0) is alone in first place on six points. No further details were available at press time.
- Reese Goodenough assisted the first two goals then scored the third for Marin Academy in a 4-1 victory against Urban on Tuesday. Goodenough set up scores by Addie Leary and Raya Leikin inside the first three minutes as MA (8-1-1, 3-0-0 BCL West) raced out to a 2-0 lead. Kacy Walker assisted Goodenough in the 32nd minute as MA led 3-0 at the half. Leikin scored her second goal of the game early in the second half for a 4-0 lead.
- San Domenico (2-3-2, 0-2-1 BCL West) dropped a 3-0 game against Lick-Wilmerding on Tuesday. The loss was the third n a row for the Panthers who had strung four consecutive games without a defeat together to start the season.