Piedmont High School’s girls soccer team split a pair of 1-0 games to move to 8-6-2 on the season, 3-4-1 in West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division play.
On Feb. 4, it was senior night against Castro Valley at Witter Field, with the Trojans prevailing, 1-0. All of the Highlanders seniors started, including injured fullback Mina Dao Hoang, who did the opening kick for Piedmont, and then was substituted out. The rest of the regular starters entered the match at the 10-minute mark.
The Highlanders kept their composure working the ball down the field. Defender and fullback Darcy McKee was injured from a collision three minutes into the match, but shook it off.
“We definitely started the game off slow, we weren’t really checked in,” right back Stephanie Lee said.
At 14 minutes, Castro Valley striker Eva Wesela gave a shot attempt at Highlander goalkeeper Rachael Young. Young blocked the attempt while Wesela came running at Young. Young attempted to clear the ball, but it was deflected by Wesela’s legs. Young fell to the ground, and Wesela had an easy shot to give the Trojans a goal.
“It was a tough goal. After that, we really kind of struggled to get back on our feet, but we eventually did,” midfielder Elspeth Grippando said.
Three minutes later, the Trojans suffered a hard injury on their goalkeeper. She was carried off the field by her team, and the backup goalkeeper was subbed in.
Wesela kept applying pressure throughout the first half. Piedmont had multiple close saves against her and fellow Trojan Erikka Flores.
Piedmont had their first close goal attempt off a corner kick by forward Miranda Liu. However, it was saved by Cassidy Berg.
“As a team, we were connecting really well,” Lee said. “We just weren’t able to finish, which was really disappointing.”
With two minutes left, Wesela suffered an injury during a shot attempt. She managed to get up and recover before the end of the half.
The Highlanders started the second half with a strong block by Young. Piedmont was ready to turn on the pressure, with Liu and midfielder Arden Sorensen-Wald taking multiple shot attempts. However, even with them giving multiple shots and lots of intensity, they were unable to score.
“I think we really got into our rhythm in the second half,” Lee said. “We had a lot of possessions, which was nice.”
In the last two minutes, Sorensen-Wald shot two penalty kicks. The first shot went directly to the goalkeeper, and the second shot barely missed the top corner of the goal.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted,” Lee said.
On Feb. 6, the Highlanders pulled out a 1-0 win at Alameda. Elia Kwong scored in the 49th minute to give Piedmont the victory. The shot came from the right side and slipped under the keeper. It was the first win for the Highlanders at Thompson Field since 2018.
The Highlanders were scheduled to host Bishop O’Dowd at Witter Field on Feb. 10 and will finish the regular season on Feb. 12 at Encinal.