The South Pas High girls soccer team improved to 4-3-2 on the season after a 3-1 loss to Palm Desert and a 1-0 win against Arcadia on Saturday in the final games of the Best of the West Winter Soccer Classic.
The Tigers played a tough Palm Desert team and were able to keep it leveled 1-1 at halftime, with senior midfielder Jessica Lat evening the score in the 30th minute.
Head coach Francisco Lopez made sure to discuss player assignments and defensive strategy for the second half during halftime.
The Tigers came in and kept it level for most of the second half but let one slip in on a shot from outside the box that junior goalkeeper Andrea Zarazua got a hand on but couldn’t keep out of the goal.
Despite being down 2-1 to Palm Desert, the Tigers kept fighting.
South Pas had a good chance at the goal but couldn’t put it away, and that’s when Palm Desert countered and ended up scoring to go up 3-1.
“We had some good opportunities and we let in some bad goals, and that’s when they capitalized and got two goals on us,” Lopez said. “One thing about our team is they don’t lay back and give up. They kind of take it for what it is, continue playing, and step it up. We almost tied the game on an opportunity that we had — and that’s the one where they countered and scored.”
Lopez made his team aware of the mistakes that were made against Palm Desert and they ended up having a good game against Arcadia.
Arcadia had quite a few chances to score in the first half, and the Tigers were fortunate that junior goalkeeper Kate Buckley made a handful of saves to keep her clean sheet.
They played the game mostly in their half of the field in the first, but got a chance on a counterattack that led to the only goal of the game, in the 25th minute by senior midfielder Chloe Kim.
Arcadia continued its attack, but the Tigers played solid defense to take the win.
South Pasadena traveled to College of the Canyons to play in the Hart Soccer Showcase on Thursday and Friday. The Tigers are guaranteed four games, playing Fillmore early Thursday morning and Division 1 host Hart High in the late morning, then Quartz Hill on Friday morning.
