The Valencia girls soccer team broke one of Hart’s longstanding streaks on Tuesday afternoon.
But if you asked the Indians, they left their home turf with the more important of the streaks intact.
Hart conceded its first goal in Foothill League play this season but Izabel Reyes scored in the 71st minute off an assist from Ali Thompson to lead Hart to a 2-1 victory over the Vikings.
Hart has gone 47 straight games since its last loss in a Foothill League contest.
“Our coach always wants us rushing to the net in case someone crosses it and I was able to find some space in the middle to work with,” Reyes said. “I knew right when (Thompson) crossed it, it was coming to me, so I had to be ready.”
Thompson worked down the right flank and around a Valencia defender as she delivered an off-balanced cross to Reyes from less than 10 yards out. Reyes fielded the cross on a bounce and beat Vikings goalkeeper Marissa Sammartano with a left-to-right liner.
“I was thinking about going toward the middle but it wasn’t open, so I decided to take it down to the outside,” Thompson said. ” … I saw had an open cross, so I crossed it, and Izzy was there. It’s always a team effort.”
Megan Sheehe put the Indians out in front with a first-half goal but their shutout streak came to an end when Autumn Moore scored from the left flank off an assist from Gracell Magnaye in the 59th minute.
“We talked about it before, ‘If anything, let’s score and break their streak that everybody keeps talking about,'” said Vikings coach Kevin Goralsky. “So that was nice to get and it also tied it up for us.”
MORE:Â Foothill League girls soccer roundup: Last-minute goal lifts Canyon girls soccer past West Ranch
Valencia narrowly missed out an opportunity to take the lead when Cory Greer hit the top post on a free kick from 35 yards out, which was also partially deflected by Hart goalkeeper Kaycie Priske.
“Just every game this year, it comes down to who makes that last mistake,” Goralsky said. “All the games we’ve lost have been by one goal. We made a big mistake today, leaving (Reyes) wide open right in front late in the game.”
Alyssa Irwin tallied two shots on near-wide-open nets just minutes before Reyes’ game-winning goal.
“As soon as they tied us, we knew we had to win all the 50-50 balls and things like that to get the advantage back and luckily we were able to do that,” Reyes said.
The loss was the second in a row for Valencia (7-6-4, 2-4-1 Foothill League) after falling to Saugus last Friday and it will host West Ranch this upcoming Friday. Hart (14-5-0, 7-0) remains atop the Foothill League standings and will play at Canyon on Friday.
Saugus 1, West Ranch 1Â
Shaina Berdin put Saugus out in front late in the first half with a goal but Emilie Cisneros countered with a goal early in the second half as the Wildcats and Cents tied for the second time this season. Kennedy Desser assisted on Cisneros’ goal.
The Wildcats (8-7-2, 2-3-2) were coming off a 1-0 loss to Canyon. Saugus (9-5-4, 2-2-4) will host Golden Valley on Friday.
Canyon 9, Golden Valley 2Â
Canyon and Golden Valley were tied 2-2 at the half but the Cowboys prevailed thanks to a four-goal performance from Claudia McKail.
Analise Rappe had two goals for Canyon as Cynthia Valdez, Jenny Patino and Marisa Rodriguez logged goals as well.
