Prep girls’ soccer: Third-seeded Whitney shows new life in playoff dominance
Whitney girls’ soccer coach Ana Jones had a conundrum Friday night.
Who was the player of the game in the Wildcats’ 6-0 win over Rodriguez? Third-seeded Whitney outclassed 14th-seeded Rodriguez in the Division II playoff opener and Jones could have reasonably chosen any player other than goalie Reese Clark, who did not have a busy night.
Jones left it to her team. Who should be the player of the night? The players were quiet for a few seconds and somebody said, “Aubrey!” Sure, why not senior captain Aubrey Murray? She didn’t have any goals but helped control the flow of the game? Just about every Whitney player had multiple plays to help the Wildcats dominate the game.
Sophomore Lauren Hunter had two goals and a corner kick that led to an own goal, junior Courtney Wagner had two goals and an assist and Whitney looked like a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs.
Not bad for a team that just went 3-5-2 in Sierra Foothill League play. Beset by injuries and COVID-19 problems, the Wildcats lost four straight games in mid January. But the results perked up a bit at the end of league play, including a 1-1 tie with top-seeded Granite Bay. The playoffs are a fresh start. With a couple more wins, Whitney will qualify for the NorCal playoffs in early March. Anything could happen now.
“I think we had a very hard time of the start of league because we came off of a really high preseason. We were not cocky, but we were very confident in our play,” Wagner said. “And I feel like we kind of got our butts handed to us a little bit (in league play). And it also didn’t help that we had a bunch of injuries. And then, once people started getting back into shape and getting back onto the field, I think we finally were able to start succeeding.”
When Wagner was asked who else should talk about the team, instead of choosing one of the team’s attacking midfielders or a striker, she singled out defender Gabby Starr. Sure, why not. The sophomore consistently pushed past Rodriguez attackers to intercept passes and prevent dangerous situations before they started.
It’s a new season and Starr is all for it.
“This is pretty insane because you want (to be in the playoffs) so bad,” she said. “We’re still in it. It’s like, okay, we can do this, we can be the underdog team. And so it means a lot.
“... I just feel like I want it more. At the end of day I want it and I’m gonna put my heart on the field. If we win, we win. But I’m gonna play with all the heart I can.”
It was the Whitney offense that seemed to be in full bloom Friday night. A journalist was relegated to collecting loose soccer balls as Whitney shots repeatedly flew over and around the Rodriguez goal, when they weren’t finishing in the back of the net.
The dominance wasn’t exactly a surprise. The Wildcats thumped Rodriguez 10-0 in December. Jones, the Whitney coach, sat in a lawn chair near midfield with a pair of assistants Friday night, quietly observing her team’s stellar play. There wasn’t much to say, which is a rarity for the coach, she said.
“I don’t do a lot of talking during games,” Jones said. “When we do our practices, the players are like, ‘Can we just play?’ Because I’m gonna stop it. I’m stopping everything. But right now, in a game, there’s not much I can say.”
There wasn’t much to say, other than picking a player of the game Friday. And even that she deferred on.
It’s a welcome turn, Jones said, as she’s never sure what she’s going to get as she spends three months working with players from different club teams to build a cohesive strategy.
“It’s a big challenge, you know, it’s big, but now they’re connecting,” she said.
The Wildcats, 14-6-2 overall, hope to keep connecting Wednesday when they face 11th-seeded St. Mary’s in the quarterfinals.