Prep Impressions: Feb. 8, 2012
I covered the Menifee Paloma Valley-Lake Elsinore Lakeside girls varsity soccer game for The Press-Enteprise on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, and came away thinking about how a team can score two goals and come away with a 1-1 tie.
Apparently, a Lakeside defender deflected a long throw-in into goal to give Paloma Valley the lead a few minutes before halftime. Did a Wildcats player get a toe in there? Did it ricochet off a Lancer elbow? The video was inconclusive.
Lakeside’s second goal was a little more obvious, when Mackenzie Akin drilled a 70th-minute penalty to tie the score. And that’s the way it would end, with the Lancers having scored twice and yet merely come away with a draw.
A supposedly joyous moment (Lakeside won another league title) become somewhat subdued under the pressure of possibly losing, like the energy exerted by the Lancers had sucked the enthusiasm to celebrate afterward.
The only one with much pep was senior Bailey Bowe, who sat out the game because of red card she received in Lakeside’s victory over Menifee Heritage last week.
During her Senior Night announcement, Bowe told her teammates they better win. “No, really,” she added.
Winning became more and more difficult as Paloma Valley, which never showed much intent to score, retreated into its defensive shell. The Wildcats stuck to Akins like glue, the CIF-Southern Section’s leading scorer with 38 goals, and forced her into playing the role of facilitator.
If not for a brilliant late run into the area, Lakeside’s flawless home record would be tarnished.
So it could always be worse. The Lancers could’ve scored the only goal and lost.
Paloma Valley coach Marie Dillon:
“Hard-fought game, we had our opportunities. Lakeside’s a really good team, and we knew they were gonna come out hard. We just tried our best. We had opportunities but I’m really proud, we did a good job defensively. Just really couldn’t find our rythm offensively but the result… sometimes you can’t really look at the scoreboard, and this is one of those games. I old the girl they called the PK on, she played so good, sometimes refs are gonna call, even though it’s clean but because it’s a slide tackle, they’re gonna call it. It was a hard-fought game. (Our defense) did a really good job of staying organized. They had a plan and they executed. I thought even with that PK, which was unlucky, I thought the plan defensively, we stuck with it. They did a good job. I can step back from the game, and even though we wanted to win, I think I can (be satisfied with the result). In the big picture I think I can for as far as the effort we put in and the effort we should. Sometimes it doesn’t show.”
Lakeside coach Brian Henderson:
“Bailey (Bowe) definitely helps, being in the that offensive central mid position. Her and Mackenzie are best friends so they don’t need to do a lot of communicating. They know each other really well, and it really lends to their playing. You can tell when she’s not in we don’t get as many opportunities as we should. We do miss her. We had to make some adjustments. Paloma played a great game. They’re very aggressive. They’re always aggressive. They made some adjustments to Mackenzie. They know her very well.”
INLAND FIELDHOUSE 