Girls soccer defeats St. Thomas Aquinas 1-0
This is the first victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in Mill Valley soccer history
April 27, 2017
The girls soccer team defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 1-0 for the first time in program history on Tuesday, April 25.
Aquinas entered the game with only one loss on the season and ranked in the top 15 in the nation. Head coach Arlan Vomhof knew it would be a difficult match because of the opponent’s reputation.
“We’ve never beat Aquinas before, so I wanted it to be a close game and for us to play well,” Vomhof said. “I wanted our good team to play well. Our good team showed up and they played really well.”
Aquinas was on the offensive half of the field for the majority of the game and had nine shots on goal. With few offensive opportunities, the Jaguars only had two shots on goal, one being the deciding goal scored by senior midfielder Haley Freeman in the second half.
Sophomore goalkeeper Grace Goetsch was proud of the defensive effort the team showed.
“It’s a big game, so I’m happy that we were able to play defensively together as a unit,” Goetsch said. “Tonight after we scored the first goal, our whole mindset defensively was just focusing really hard on where we needed to be and not making mistakes.”
Vomhof was also proud of the defense’s performance — Goetsch’s performance especially — and how they were able to hold off Aquinas’ late efforts.
“Our defensive line did a great job,” Vomhof said. “There was one shot that they had where they ended up taking four shots; I don’t know how many stomachs it went off but I just heard that ball slapping people. They did not give up on balls and they did awesome.”
Both a previous relationship with members of the other team and the effects on the postseason make the victory mean even more to Goetsch.
“I play with a lot of girls on [Aquinas] and it’s a big win for us because they talk a lot of trash about us” Goetsch said. “This is one of our hardest competitors. This will also definitely advance us in our bracket for regionals and hopefully we’ll get a good seed and we’ll be able to go to state if we play well.”
Now that the Jaguars have beaten Aquinas, Vomhof hopes that the victory will propel the team forward with even more confidence.
“Hopefully this will get players away from that mentality of ‘Oh, we can’t beat Aquinas,” Vomhof said. “Probably five years ago, they slaughtered us in the regional championship. In the last four years we’ve always played them close, but they always have come out on top. Getting later into the season it will give them the confidence to think, ‘Hey we did it once. We can beat a really good team.’”
Girls soccer next plays Blue Valley Southwest at home on Thursday, April 27.
