One by one, Division I girls soccer teams representing high schools in the Central Valley have been downed by Division IV Oakdale.
The Lady Mustangs throttled Pitman 4-0 in an unofficial scrimmage on Feb. 24, and added four straight wins over similar large school programs in the Pitman Extreme Sports Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Since multiple teams were undefeated after three games in tourney play, narrow margins against tough opponents forced Oakdale to settle for a third place game, which they won in penalty kicks after a 1-1 deadlock with Downey in regulation.
Pitman, who Oakdale handily dispatched in unrecorded play, ultimately won the tournament.
“We got some big satisfaction seeing Pitman win the tournament, knowing we beat them 4-0 in a scrimmage where we played 24 players,” Oakdale coach Alfredo Quiroga said. “The girls were a little discouraged because they wanted to play in the championship game, but fortunately we did well throughout the tournament.”
Oakdale had opened their official season with a 2-1 win over Merced after scores by both Markie Arnold and Sydni Avant. Kristen Brunk and Kerri Feuerstein dished out assists while Morgan Kinyon landed seven saves.
Kinyon only needed to save two shots in a dominant 8-0 win over Grace Davis a round later that saw seven Oakdale players find the net. Jenna Micheletti scored twice and added an assist while Feuerstein (assist), Brunk (three assists), Arnold, Avant, Jordan Laugero and Sara Siemsen (assist) also scored. Jessica Gomez also made a pass resulting in a score.
The Lady Mustangs opened Saturday play with a 2-1 decision over Turlock after goals from Feuerstein and Jill Kahler (assist). Missy Rivera also assisted on a score while Kinyon recorded a fantastic 22 saves.
Micheletti’s unassisted score was Oakdale’s only regulation tally against Downey, but it forced a penalty kick shootout. In PKs, Kinyon added two more saves to her mark of 15, and watched Gomez, Kahler, Katie Adian and Micheletti land clutch scores for a 4-3 advantage.
Oakdale played their first game under the lights on Tuesday, and hosts Hughson on Monday to continue preseason action.
Junior Varsity
The JV Lady Mustangs also played to an impressive 3-0 mark in Pitman tournament action before playing in the third-fourth place match. They lost a hard fought battle there and settled for fourth place honors, playing well but, like their varsity counterparts, playing in the consolation as opposed to the championship match based on the scoring formula used when multiple teams had the same win-loss record.
