As Sydney Robinson described the closing moments of The Master’s University soccer team’s 2-1 overtime win Saturday as “chaos,” her voice remained calm and clear.
The chain of events, as dramatic as they were, needed no extra hype.
With less than 20 seconds to play in overtime at Reese Field, someone sent a long ball into William Jessup University’s 18-yard box.
Mustang Jasmine Parada laced a shot. Block. The ball, with a boatload of backspin, rebounded to Parada. Shot. Block.
The ball, seemingly with a mind to end the game, found Robinson. Alone. In front of the net. Still, she had the presence of mind not to rush it, not to tense up and boot the ball with all her strength. She took a touch.
“I knew if I didn’t take one touch,” she said, “it was going to go out of bounds.”
It didn’t.
Instead, it hurtled into the back of the net and freed the Mustangs of tension that had been building since the fourth minute, when a winless Warrior squad took a 1-0 lead.
“All I remember is looking at Jasmine’s face,” Robinson said, “and she was yelling at me, ‘Just shoot it, just shoot it, just shoot it.’”
Parada and Robinson embraced after the golden goal lifted the Mustangs (9-1 overall) to a 2-0 start in Golden State Athletic Conference play.
It was Robinson’s second goal in two seasons with Master’s. The other came last year – against William Jessup.
The Warriors entered Saturday upset-minded. They had pushed NAIA No. 4 Westmont to the brink on Thursday and four of their seven losses had come by one goal.
Before five minutes were gone, Yvette Perez stirred her team’s belief.
She stole the ball near midfield and worked a give-and-go with Hannah Lettington, running onto Lettington’s pass around the top of the 18-yard box and one-timing a parabolic shot inside the far post.
“I think we were all kind of shocked,” Robinson said. “We weren’t expecting a shot like that from so far out. But I think we did a really good job of staying positive and reminding ourselves that we need to do better.”
They would.
Mustang Lynnae George lined the equalizer into the net from 22 yards out in the 20th minute. It was George’s fourth goal of the year, and it was a huge boost to a Mustang team struggling to deal with Jessup’s physicality.
“It’s GSAC soccer,” said Master’s coach Curtis Lewis. “You can’t take anybody for granted.”
Sarah Stead and Parada each had an assist for the Mustangs, who next play on Sept. 28 on the road against San Diego Christian.
Here’s the box score.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.