LINDSAY – It has been a tale of two seasons for Selma girls soccer.
Through their first 13 matches of the year, the Bears struggled against tough competition to amass a record of 3-9-1. But since then, the Bears have found their stride in league play and their first two matches of the Division V Central Section playoffs. And heading into their semifinal game at Lindsay this past Friday night, the Bears did not let up.
In the first half, Selma junior Merlina Gutierrez lit it up with three goals to give her team the lead and all the momentum. The Cardinals could not recover from this early blitz as the Bears pulled away for the 4-1 win on Feb. 21. As his team punched their tickets to the Central Valley title game, Selma head coach Luis Zamora commended his team for turning around their season.
“We’ve come a really long way because we had a little rought start to our season. We changed some formations around, changed some personnel and the ladies bought into it,” Zamora said. “The effort’s been there and I’m really proud of them. They deserve this and more.”
The Bears have now gone 7-4-1 in the back half of the season, improving their overall record to 10-13-2 this year. Many Bears have helped make that happen, including Gutierrez with her three goals against the Cardinals in the first half of the semifinals.
“A hat trick is amazing,” Gutierrez said about her performance. “It was everyone on the pitch, not just me. I’m not the star, it’s all the girls putting in the effort and playing until the last minute.”
Gutierrez scored all three of her goals in the first 20 minutes of the match, putting the Bears firmly in control. The Cardinals, who had scored seven goals in their first two playoff matches, struggled to respond in the first half as the Bears shut them out to take a 3-0 lead into halftime.
“We know that some of these teams we’ll face are going to look to go with an aerial threat and go long,” Zamora said about Selma’s defensive strategy. “We know in order for us to be successful is to win everything in the air and not let that be the factor and I think early on, we did that.”
And in the opening minute of the second half, the Bears put the game out of reach thanks to a score from Starlette Ordonez. The Cardinals eventually responded with a goal from Izabel Perez with about 10 minutes left on the clock. But they did not have enough time to build momentum from that score as the season slipped away.
Lindsay wrapped up its season with an overall record of 17-11-2. They had been playing excellently late in the season, with a 12-1-1 record that secured the East Sequoia-Sequoia League title outright and won them their first two playoff matches. While the season ended sooner than they would have liked, Lindsay head coach Jannely Rangel believes the program made immense progress.
“Just looking at our record, I don’t think that it reflects how much growth we had. Not just technically but as far as our culture and the standards that we’re setting now for this program,” Rangel said. “This is just a part of the journey, taking that loss, and hopefully those girls will learn from it and not want to feel that way again next season because I expect to get there again.”
The Selma Bears now prepare for the Central Section championship match, where they will face No. 6 seed Mira Monte on the road. As they look to extend their magical run, Gutierrez believes the Bears just have to stick to what has worked for them so far.
“We got to continue playing as a unit,” Gutierrez said. “No egos. Just continue playing as a unit, practicing together, having fun till the last minute of the last game and we’ll take it home.”
