MHS girls on playoff bubble

By Coach Cage

MHS Girls Soccer finished the regular season with an 8-4-1 mark after thrashing Mojave 5-0 in a “home” game played down in Bishop.

The Girls, however, finished in 3rd place in their league behind Desert Christian and Vasquez, meaning they will have to petition for a playoff spot. If that petition is successful, that would set up a wildcard playoff game next week. The winner of that game would face the tourney’s #1 seed.

Could Mammoth compete with the top dog? Based on this week’s play against Desert Christian, the answer would be a definitive yes.

After dispatching Silver Valley 6-2 on Feb. 2 behind two goals from Sandy Grimaldo and a first-ever goal by Roxanne Garcia, the MHS Girls traveled to Lancaster to take on Desert Christian the next day.

D.C. is the 7-year reigning league champion and a 4-time state division champion.

The game started in a very unpredictable way with a perfect feed from Jessie Harris to Sandy Grimaldo back to Sydney Knadler and then back to Sandy for the tap-in. Just 1:16 into the game, Mammoth led.

Keep in mind that D.C. has had 6 goals scored against it in the past six years and has not lost or tied a league game during that span.

That streak was broken this year.

Mammoth ultimately achieved a 2-2 tie with Grimaldo scoring both goals. Coach Cage said that valuable help came from subs Clare Stapp, a junior, as well as from freshmen Marissa Villalpando, Mackenzie Morley and Ellie Gerrero.

Goaltender Liz Garcia stopped 8 shots on goal, and the defense of Emilie Hodges, Maria Lopez, Jackie Gidney and senior Perla Espitia held tough.

Unfortunately, the team’s loss to Vasquez the day after that (3 games in 3 days) forced Mammoth onto the playoff bubble. In a physical contest featuring five yellow cards, Mammoth fell 1-0.