Skies clear as Badgers cominate Sierra 2-0

(Updated: Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 11:16 AM)

Yosemite High School girls soccer renewed its rivalry with the Sierra Chieftains Tuesday evening in Tollhouse.

Under clear skies, the Lady Badgers had things their way from the opening whistle, maintaining possession for nearly three-quarters of the match. Although Yosemite continually broke down the Chieftain defense, it was not able to find the back of the net.

"With all of the possession you could see the girls begin to panic," said head soccer coach Scott Males.

"They kept trying to rush forward instead of thinking their way through the problem."

It took a second-half substitute to break the scoreless deadlock in the 50th minute. Elisa Chirolo attacked down the Badgers' left side, getting behind the Chieftain defense. Chirolo crossed the ball into the center to Christa Elliott, who passed to Kaycee Harmon.

Harmon stepped around a defender and beat the goaltender with a shot into the back of the net, giving Yosemite a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, Brittany Elsman attacked down the left side of the Sierra defense, and got behind it and crossed the ball into the center, finding Harmon, who dribbled into the Chieftains' defense, where she was taken down by two defenders inside the penalty area.

The Badgers were awarded the penalty kick and senior Laura Mears beat the Sierra goalkeeper with a kick into the top right corner of the goal, wrapping up the scoring for Yosemite. Despite dominating the run of play throughout the game the Badgers were forced to settle for a 2-0 win, Coach Males stated.

"Harmon came off the bench and provided a vital spark for us this evening," Males said. "She certainly made the difference in a game that looked as if it might end up a 0-0 draw.

"As a team we are very fortunate that we have a great deal of talent and someone new steps up for us each night."

Yosemite will travel to Washington Union this evening for the North Sequoia League matchup.