After winning the first game against Jurupa Hills in the first day of the San G Winter Classic, our San G Spartans advanced in their bracket to play the Etiwanda Eagles late in the first day of the tournament.  Etiwanda proved to be a tough opponent., as they got on the board 16 minutes into the first half, capitalizing when our defense failed to clear the ball and went up 1-0.  Our Spartans battled for the rest of the half and with injury time only left on the clock senior, captain, Roxanna Gomez beat one defender and got inside the 18 where the sweeper took her down giving us a penalty kick.  Roxanna Gomez finished what she started, making her PK look easy and bringing the Spartans even with the Eagles at the end of the first half.  

The second half was similar to the first.  Both teams battled hard, with chances at both ends.  Our defense, Janellie Sanchez, Brianna Irwin, Estefani Crisostomo, and Dennise Flores remained strong keeping the Eagle's shots outside the 18, not giving up many quality scoring opportunities.  Angele Villa made 12 saves, including two spectacular saves to keep us tied up. 

Our offense doubled our shots on goal in the second half with several great chances.  Ruby Valadez hit the crossbar twice, and Roxy Gomez sailed one that looked like it hit the net just under the crossbar, but as our sideline went crazy, the referee indicated "no goal", the keeper had got a fingertip on it and play continued.  Regulation finished with the score tied up 1-1.  To determine placement in the tournament, we were headed to PKs. 

Our Spartans won the toss and elected to shoot second.  Angele Villa was close to making every save, guessing the correct way on every shot, but just missing each as Etiwanda scored all 5 of their PKs.  We stayed even with them, making all of our first 4 PKs starting with Jiselle Torres, Ruby Valadez, Roxy Gomez, and Estefani Crisostomo.  Our last shooter was sophomore, Brianna Irwin, who calmly walked up, set the ball, shot it, and scored.  Everyone was ready, Brianna, the keeper, and one of the refs, but the ref that was blowing the whistle was taking his time and had not yet blown the whistle indicating Brianna could shoot.  He made her re-kick.  Brianna went the same way as her first shot, but with the keeper cheating to that side, Brianna tried to hit the corner and just missed on the outside of the post.  The Etiwanda Eagles had knocked the Spartans into the consolation bracket for Day 2 of the tournament.

SPARTAN STATS

GOALS:

ROXANNA GOMEZ                 1

KEEPER STATS:

ANGELE VILLA:       12 SAVES