By: Andrew Bensch
The San Jose State Spartans found themselves in a 2-0 hole to the California Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon. While first-half possession wasn't particularly lopsided, the Bears arguably deserved at least a one-goal lead as they accounted for the majority of quality opportunities towards goal.
Fortunately, the Spartans were able to flip the script in the second half. With Cal demonstrating speed and a high-pressure defensive style, Spartans Head Coach Leo Peralta used a number of a substitutions to keep fresh legs on the field. That allowed the Spartans to counter and push the pace in the second half. Most notably, midfielder Theresa Moffett used her speed through the middle of the field to push the attack forward. About mid-way through the second half, Moffett placed a perfect through ball to an attacking Adreanna Stephen who was able to slide a low shot past the Cal keeper just inside the near post.
"I tried beating my girl one-on-one and then she fell, so I just decided to keep pushing forward," recalled Moffett on the sequence leading up to the goal. "Then I saw Adre running through and passed it up to her since she had an open pass or shot."
With time winding down in the game the Spartans kept on charging forward, getting multiple chances off hard-earned corners. The third of said corners wound up leading to a Spartans' penalty kick after a handball in the box. Left-footed striker Paulina Llamas took the PK and buried it to the left corner, to the right of the Cal keeper.
"Usually I get really nervous," chuckled Llamas about taking PKs. "But this one I was just like 'I need to score this.' I'm a lefty and a lot of goalies don't know that so I decided I would just go to my easy side."
The Spartans would survive a late scare as a Bears shot off a set piece went off the crossbar shortly before the final whistle blew. Overall coach Peralta was pleased with his squad, as he felt his team didn't necessarily deserve to be down 2-0 at halftime.
"The second half the girls definitely got their beast mode out and stepped on the gas," acknowledge Peralta. "We were losing 2-0, but in my opinion we didn't deserve to be losing. We controlled some of the first half, but when they scored on us our morale went down. But we touched based at halftime and tied it up. I'm happy with that, but I think we should have won."
One of the under-the-radar standouts for the Spartans was defender Kate McMullen. The centerback used her strength to win physical 50-50 battles and clear balls out of danger.
"She's awesome, I feel so safe with her in the back," praised Club President and midfielder Chelsie Guzman. "She's always telling everyone what to do since she's kind of like the goalie who can see the whole field. I feel like she also has a very positive attitude and keeps us all clicking together the whole game."
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