A constant downpour of rain in the first half at Saugus kept the Valencia girls soccer team’s offense from ever really finding a rhythm.
The disappointment from a Saugus goal late in that first half carried on into the second. The errant passes and botched set pieces ensued.
That was until Valencia senior Kimmi Anderson ended up with a near-wide-open look at the net in added time and cashed in a goal to steal away from Saugus, with a 1-1 tie to open Foothill League play on Tuesday afternoon.
“I take a lot of shots and none of them go in,” Anderson said. “For the one in the Saugus game, where we’re down 1-0, that’s the best moment I could think of right now.”
Cory Greer served a cross into the penalty box from the right flank, which, after some commotion, landed at the feet of Anderson, who beat Saugus goalkeeper Kayla Medof with a dive to her right side.
“The last 15 minutes I thought we picked it up,” said Valencia coach Kevin Goralsky. “To score (points) on an away game in the last two minutes is pretty awesome.”
Kathleen Volpei put Saugus up 1-0 in the 36th minute, slipping a free kick from 35 yards out by Vikings goalkeeper Camryn Arnott on a bounce.
“We just kind of talked about how we need to put a full 80 minutes together,” said Saugus coach Aly Drake. “We played probably a good 60 minutes of that game but toward the end, things started to get a little crazy.
“We just have to get rid of the ball toward the end. When you see two minutes on the clock, you can’t let anything around the goal.”
Saugus received a corner kick on its ensuing possession following Anderson’s goal. The Centurions were unable to muster a shot, though, as the final whistle rang in.
“It’s a learning lesson for us,” Drake said. “We went from having three points to this game, to having one. That hurts in this league. We’re frustrated and we have to do better Friday.”
Saugus (7-3-2, 0-0-1 Foothill League) will hit the road to play West Ranch on Friday and Valencia (4-2-4, 0-0-1) will travel to play Canyon.
Hart 5, Golden Valley 0
Ruby Burroughs, Taylor Moorhead, Izabel Reyes, Isabela Penaranda and Alyssa Irwin each collected goals in the Indians’ league-opening win. Burroughs collected two assists as well, with Penaranda and Elizabeth MacArthur also recording assists.
Canyon 2, West Ranch 0
Claudia McKail and Cynthia Valdez each scored to give the Cowboys a win in their league opener.
