By Camille Juton
Staff Writer
With the season at its end and a heavy competition for first place in the Bay League, the Mira Costa varsity girls soccer team lost on Tuesday in an away game to Peninsula High School, 1-0. The loss made the girls’ record 5-2-2 in league and 15-3-4 overall for the season.
The loss tied Costa and Peninsula for first place in the Bay League. Redondo Union High School is also tied with the two schools.
“It’s been a tough season so far because every team has been a challenge,” senior mid-fielder Melina Cohen said. “We’ve been working hard, and I hope our hard work pays off and we win Bay League.”
Sophomore forward McKenna Doyle started the first half off strong with two shots on goal, but neither was successful, setting the tone for the rest of regulation.
“We battled hard,” senior fullback Kara Enomoto said. “With four players injured, we had a hard time finding an offense, and Peninsula outplayed us.”
Along with the injured players, the Mustangs had to deal with other disadvantages. Compared to the smooth turf the girls are used to playing and practicing on, they had to familiarize themselves with the rough terrain of the Peninsula field.
“We weren’t accustomed to the field conditions, and it caused us to play kick-ball instead of passing and being able to move the ball down the field,” senior mid-fielder Kirby Benson said. “It was difficult to make plays and predict the direction the ball was going to take.”
During the second half, the game was back and forth, resulting in strong defensive stands. Later in the half, Peninsula broke through the Costa defense and scored.
“By the second half of the game we were losing the ball,” Cohen said. “Peninsula was able to gain control of it enough to score a goal.”
Throughout the course of the second half, Costa had several shots on goal from freshman mid-fielder Hannah Watkins and Enomoto. However, the Mustangs were unable to score for the remainder of the game.
“We really needed a goal, so I wish I would have made it in,” Enomoto said. “We had a couple really close shots on goal, so it was disappointing that we did not score any.”
The girls could have taken the lead in Bay League with a win on Thursday at Palos Verdes High School at 3 p.m., but the results of the game were unavailable due to time of publication.
“We went out there knowing it was going to be a hard game,” Cohen said. “Although we didn’t win, we went out and worked hard. We just need to come out Thursday and leave it all on the field.”
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