Knights strike again

The Sacred Heart girls soccer team on Friday night suffered a fate eerily similar to last season.

In their quest for the program’s first district championship, the top-seeded Gremlins lost 3-0 for the second straight year to the Barstow Lady Knights in the Class 1, District 7 championship match at Clover Dell Park.

“It was really a carbon copy of last year,” Sacred Heart coach Carlos McField said. “They scored an early goal, one which I felt we kind of gave to them. It was pretty even throughout the rest of the game and we just tried to push forward but gave up two crackerjack goals.”

The second-seeded Lady Knights pounced early despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Kelli Lamb. Lamb was a brick wall in the opening minutes, deflecting shot after shot to keep the game knotted at 0.

Her offense didn’t give her any relief as the Lady Knights’ scoring opportunities mounted until they finally broke through around the 15th minute.

The play began on a  turnover by Sacred Heart defender Stephanie Hanlon. Kayla Holland capitalized and dribbled up the right side of the box for a point-blank shot. The hard right-footed kick was blocked but the rebound stopped in front of the goal, setting up an easy left-footed kick from Holland for the opening goal.

Sacred Heart’s offense had trouble responding. The errant passes and inability to attack a stout Barstow back line were compounded by a mix of poor conditions and injuries. The Lady Knights, though, couldn’t put the game out of reach in the first half, despite outshooting the Gremlins 8-3.

In the second half, the same theme continued as the Sacred Heart players’ legs grew visibly tired from the sopping wet field.

The Lady Knights, however, seemed to have a burst of energy coming out of the break.

They continued to pepper Lamb with shots, eventually coming through with some insurance goals late in the game. The first came near the 72nd minute on a Kate Schuller corner kick.

After bouncing around the box, the well-placed ball found Amelia Switz’s right foot and the defender capitalized with a goal in the upper right corner.

Two minutes later, Aja James beat defender Tatyana Dalager to the ball near midfield and scored just inside the right corner to stretch the lead to 3-0.

Sacred Heart (14-9-1) put together a few scoring threats near the end, but none came to fruition.

“For whatever reason we turned it on late there,” McField said. “I can’t take anything away from Barstow. They were just the better team today. But I’m proud of my girls and it just wasn’t meant to be this year.”