Academica Make Statement in 5-3 Victory Over Olympic Club
Taylor Phillips scored a brace, while Sophia Moness, Kassandra Ceja and Bailey Bracha also added goals of their own.
Academica SC continued their road trip against the Olympic Club in San Francisco on Tuesday night. Their time on the road hasn’t gone to plan so far, but Academica hoped to right the ship in San Francisco before their match against their rival Stockton Cargo next weekend.
Academica Starting XI: Kaydence Cortez-Garcia, Haylee Sousa, Logan Nidy, Jocelyn Figueroa, Emma Brown, Isabella Cruz, Sophia Moness, Taylor Phillips, Kassandra Ceja, Bailey Bracha, Micayla Ratukalou
Olympic Club Starting XI: Gabrielle Matulich, Chelsea Barry, Allison Daley, Stephanie Pawek, Rachel Quon, Skylar Smith, Tia Catalano, Haley Nishimoto, Madison Donati, Courtney Okazaji, Lauren Racioppi
Academica got out to an early lead when Sophia Moness found the back of the net just a couple of minutes into the game. Two minutes later, Taylor Phillips nearly extended Academica’s lead off of a pass from Bailey Bracha but Gabrielle Matulich tipped it over the bar. Kaydence Cortez-Garcia made her first save of the night for Academica in the 8th minute. Academica got their second of the night in the 10th minute when a great run from Bracha led to a cross inside the box which found a wide-open Kassandra Ceja who finished the play by putting the ball in the net.
In the 19th minute, an Academica player went down in some difficulty inside the box but remained in the game. About a minute later, Olympic Club had an opportunity to get on the board but their cross went just out of reach of the striker in front of the goal. Bracha had a chance of her own in the 22nd minute when a perfect pass from midfield found her just as she got past the back line, but her shot went wide of the goal. Immediately down at the other end, great defensive play by the center backs helped Academica clear a dangerous attack from the home team, which ultimately led to a foul against Olympic Club.
Phillips finally got her first of the season in the 26th minute, extending Academica’s lead to 3-0. Academica didn’t let up from there, immediately getting another attack which was saved by the goalkeeper. Olympic Club got one back in the 35th minute, bringing them back within 2 goals. Just over a minute later, they got a second making it 3-2 in favor of Academica with roughly ten minutes remaining in the half.
The next goal of the match was key, either Olympic Club would tie the game or Academica would stop the momentum in its tracks. Cortez-Garcia was being put under quite a bit of pressure at this point, but ultimately it didn’t matter as Academica went down and made it 4-2 thanks to a Bracha goal in the 40th minute. Phillips nearly added a second of the night in the 42nd, but the shot went wide.
Academica continued bringing pressure in the second half. Shortly after the start of the half Iliana Murguia came into the match. During the 58th minute, Academica nearly added another tally when a cross got past the goalkeeper in the box, but they were unable to capitalize and a defender cleared it out. Jayden Jimenez came on for Logan Nidy with roughly 30 minutes remaining. A collision inside the box while Cortez-Garcia attempted to play the ball gave Olympic Club the ball with a wide open goal, bringing Academica’s lead back down to a single goal. Academica had already swung the momentum in their favor in this situation once, now they needed to do it again if they wanted to secure a victory.
Quick writer’s note here: considering I’m primarily a hockey writer, I was watching the Stanley Cup Final at the same time as this game, ironically both games started with the away team leading 3-0 before it eventually ended up being 4-2. Then, of course, both home teams then brought it within a single goal. The number of coincidences between these two games seemed wild to me. That game ended 5-3, now we could see if Academica could get the same result.
Now back to the action, Academica was maintaining their lead with less than 20 minutes to go but Olympic Club wasn’t making it easy. Academica had another attack around the 75th minute, but a kick-save by the goalkeeper knocked the ball out for a corner which would eventually be cleared out. Their best opportunity of the half would come in the 78th minute when an attacker was all alone in front of Olympic Club’s goalkeeper who made the save, keeping her team in the game.
Phillips immediately followed that up with another chance, now the momentum seemed to be heavily in Academica’s favor. Just a minute later, Phillips had a nearly identical chance but the shot once again went over the bar. Caroline Souza was also on the field at this point, however I was unable to verify when the substitution occurred. Phillips got her second of the night, making it 5-3 for Academica. Blanca Negrete got subbed on late in the game, making her final appearance of the season for Academica, as she’s departing for a European tournament later this week.
