LJ FH: In-game

Viking midfielder Morgan Hansen dominated
with the ball in the first half.
(Photos by Ed Piper)

 

By Ed Piper

La Jolla players out-quicked and out-sticked their opponents in their second-round Division 1 playoff game, Patrick Henry, in the early going.

That was apparent.

What was also apparent was the need to, not only possess the ball, even move it forward into the attacking quadrant--but to score.

Viking coach Amanda Combs Warford's team, though playing well at home, wasn't able to "put one in the cage", as she termed it, despite the apparent advantage.

Then, Jasmine Lawson, a forward for the Lady Patriots, scored on a hard shot up the middle with 17:33 left in the first half.

The Vikings, now down 1-0, seemed to go into "frantic" mode, as Warford described it.

The visiting Patrick Henry contingent, noticeable in their green, sometimes gold, brought a visible and vocally support group of family and friends. The Viking supporters sat on the left side of the aluminum stands, while the Pats people sat on the right half.

You heard "Let's go, Henry" a lot, "Let's go, Vikings" not so much, until the end, when La Jolla, down to their final minutes, felt the crashing end of their season approaching if they didn't score and spectators started to make more noise.

Down at halftime, the situation wasn't urgent.

Senior forward Kate Hartford covered a lot of ground
in the Vikings' second-round playoff loss. It was
Hartford's and Hansen's last game in high school.

Even with 21 minutes left, on a sideline timeout, Warford assured her team very calmly, "You guys, you're playing great. Keep doing what your doing. There is plenty of time."

Which was true at that time.

But 10 minutes later, into the final sixth of the sudden-death contest, things were more serious.

Senior midfielder Morgan Hansen dominated the ball in the middle of the field much of the first half. She was prominent, active, whacking the ball.

Defender Serene Liu, with other defenders in the back, stopped up many of the Patrick Henry forays down field.

Paxton Stolper was active. Caeley Hickson Long helped power the ball upfield in the second half.

Face it, Patrick Henry played well and was able to clog up things in front of the goal enough to deny La Jolla, the fourth seed, any goals. The result is predicated on who plays better, not who is the better team overall. And the Patriots, coming off a "competitive" first-round win while the Vikings received a bye into the second round, rose to the occasion.

Henry was the fifth seed in the bracket.