Canyon girls soccer’s Tayler Clarke scored the Cowboys second goal against Lancaster, she received some friendly encouragement from the sidelines.
“Way to rip it, Tayler!” the voice said.
“I didn’t mean to kick it that hard, I was just excited,” she replied.
Canyon’s 8-2 home win over Lancaster on Tuesday evening was full of excitement and looked effortless.
Albert Einstein Academy transfer Jaqueline Morrison broke open the scoring in the third minute, followed by Clarke’s goal in the 18th minute.
The Cowboys (2-1-1) quickly figured out how to work around the Eagles’ defense – short, quick passing was the way to go.
“As long as we did quick passes around them, then we were able to find a through ball and get into the goal,” said midfielder Madison Jackson.
Shelby Cooper, a left back, logged her first goal of the season in the 28th minute to give Canyon a 3-0 lead.
“I had a lot of open space, so I just took it and I just cut it and shot,” said Cooper. “I don’t think I’ll get too many more, so I think this was a good chance to show that I can.”
Giselle Sayan’s header off a throw-in gave the Cowboys a 4-0 lead heading into halftime. On the other side of the half, Chandler Bietsch tacked on a goal for herself in the 46th minute.
Cynthia Valdez casually tapped the ball in to extend the lead to 6-0, but Lancaster (2-4-2) wouldn’t go silently and scored back-to-back goals as the clocked ticked into the 59th minute.
“When we do score a couple goals and we’re upbeat, we tend to start to kind of relax but we always need to stay on top,” Jackson said, “and so next practice we’re going to be working on defensive drills and learning not to get complacent.”
With 10 minutes left in the game, Jackson took the ball up the right side and scored on a cross to get the momentum flowing again.
It was also a little bit of redemption for Jackson, who tripped in front of the net on her previous scoring attempt just minutes earlier.
“That first goal, I was like oh, I’m right there and then totally ‘bam,’” she said with a laugh. “So that goal, I just felt really happy. I was like, oh thank goodness I redeemed myself and didn’t end it with an embarrassing moment. And it was, it felt really good.”
Jill Maglio finished off the scoring for Canyon as the clock ticked into extra time.
Coach Derek Rusk said that quality of play rather than number of goals scored is of the utmost importance to his team, but he couldn’t deny the benefits of the scoring depth shown in the match.
“It just bodes well for the future because you know that at any given point someone’s going to step up and finish a game for you,” said Rusk. “A lot of times, it’s a one-goal game or a two-goal game, but knowing that eight different girls can do that for you is a definite benefit.”
Canyon next plays at Camarillo on Thursday at 5 p.m.
