Luna Diaz, who scored three goals, chases after the ball. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Paloma Valley High School’s girls soccer team handily defeated Heritage 4-0 Wednesday behind Luna Diaz, who scored three goals.
Both teams entered the game off rough starts to the season, with Heritage having lost four in a row to fall to 3-8-1, and Paloma Valley entering at 2-4-1. That made it important for both teams looking to get on track.
It was the Wildcats who came out firing, though. Not even three minutes into the game, Diaz found herself in a prime scoring position after a cross into the box, and she capitalized by burying the ball in the back of the net to make it 1-0. About two minutes later, Diaz found herself on the receiving end of a beautiful through ball down the wing, and after cutting inside, buried her second goal of the game to make it 2-0.
Coach Katelyn Fregosi commented on this fast start after the game.
“So I’ve been saying to the girls, we need to set the tone immediately when we start playing,” she said. “My key phrase is score early, score often … we kind of struggled with that in games previously, and today they proved that they can do that, so I am super proud of what they did.”
The Wildcats certainly followed that motto of “score early, score often”, as 10 minutes into the game, Diaz once again found herself on the receiving end of a great through ball, positioning her one on one with the goalkeeper. She converted for the hat trick.
The rest of the first half saw Paloma Valley continuing to dominate possession, making Heritage’s attempts to play the ball out of the back through their defense impossible. Their midfield also dominated, winning the ball back whenever Heritage did start to form an attack and doing a great job at holding the ball up while their forwards made runs into the channels of the Patriots’ defense.
The second half was more of the same for the Wildcats. They continued to hold the majority of possession and thwart any sort of a response by Heritage while also creating more great scoring chances for themselves. Seven minutes into the second half, the Wildcats scored their fourth goal after a deflected free kick fell generously to Lyla Lopez, who chipped one in past the goalkeeper, putting the game officially out of reach.
As the second half continued, Paloma Valley had plenty more chances to expand their lead even more, but Heritage goalkeeper Jennifer Zavala made some great saves to limit any further damage.
The win was also big because it came against a crosstown rival.
“We enjoy playing Heritage whenever we can,” she said. “A lot of the girls know each other from club, so it’s fun to play each other.”
Paloma Valley will look to continue to add on to this victory Dec. 27 against Brea Olinda, while Heritage aims to get back on track Jan. 7 against Arlington.
Adelie Corona moves the ball forward for Paloma Valley. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Heritage forward Noemi Diaz (6) and Paloma Valley’s Camryn Lansing (15) compete for the ball. (Photo by Action Captures Media
Heritage guard Rebeca May Hernandez (19) controls the ball against the defense of Paloma Valley’s Camryn Lansing (15). (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Paloma Valley’s Vanessa Trapanier (18) and Heritage forward Kaila Castellanos (4) compete for the ball. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Paloma Valley’s Vivi Winchester (2) runs after the ball. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Heritage guard Zoey Romero (16) competes for the ball. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
