Fallon senior Mayzie Jones, left, is chased by Dayton senior Genesis Franco as she escapes Wave territory.
The Greenwave girls varsity soccer team continued not only their winning streak but also their shutout streak with a 6-0 win against Dayton. The Lady Wave is currently at 7-4-1 overall and 5-2-1 in league play while the Dust Devils are at 1-11-2 overall and 0-7-1 in league play.
This marks the Lady Wave’s fifth consecutive win and their third consecutive shutout on their streak.
The Lady Wave’s next match is at home against Truckee Friday at 4 p.m.
“It was a good game,” Wave senior Kailey Davis said about the win. “Obviously, we won by a good amount. We try to keep possession for most of the game. We’ve been working on passing so we can beat the better teams and we’re working to get better for playoffs, so that was the main focus today.”
The Wave continued its pattern of high scoring first halves as well with six goals in the first half alone exceeding their previous matches. Davis attributed this to the overall strength of the team, as well as to solid performances by goalkeepers Kyndra Leary and Kayce Mulder and to senior defender Mayzie Jones who was like the core of the backfield for Fallon throughout.
Davis herself scored the first goal of the match for Fallon on an impressively aggressive run through the Dust Devils’ defense.
Davis definitely picked up the slack since neither seniors Rebecca Mills or Kayla Biggs were able to play this match due to injuries, both of whom are key offensive players, Mills in particular who leads the team in goals. Mills will be going into minor surgery for her feet in the near future, and will be back before playoffs according to Davis.
Davis also attributed the victory to the performances by several junior varsity girls who were brought up to play with varsity this match. Sophomore Jordyn Dahl was particularly strong throughout the first half on passing, and her and several other underclassmen helped make up for the injuries that have been holding the team back.
Not long after Davis, in fact, freshman Leilani Outafi scored the second goal for the Wave.
While it was pleasant to see the Wave could still win without two of their veterans, it was also surprising to see they could still maintain such a distanced lead with the help of younger players.
Sophomore Caitlyn Welch was the next up to put the Wave on the board, bringing the score to 3-0 due to slower Dayton defense. This pace, along with strong midfield passing kept the goals consecutive with another by junior Melinda Fagundes within a few minutes bringing the score to 4-0.
Before the first half concluded, senior Brittany Wallace would have her chance on goal as well by scoring from the left and bringing the score to 5-0.
The second half was a more aggressive half with better control and footwork, particularly by Jones who had kept remarkably improved control from previous matches, since this has been trouble for the Lady Wave in the past.
Senior Macy Meyes would have the first shot on goal of the half, saved by Dayton junior captain Kristina Mason.
The Dust Devils had several more breakaways this half despite the Wave’s aggression, though they were shut down by senior defender Mara Garcia who was able to stand up without flinching to the close up kicks by the Dayton forwards.
Meyers scored quick into the half at 34:50, bringing the Wave up 6-0 after an impressive charge through two defenders. Meyers boasted a strong passing and control game equal to Jones’ throughout the second half, able to get around Devils sophomore captain Alaura Greenwalt who was consistently fast and made trouble midfield for the Wave throughout the match.
Fagundes would have a shot on goal at 30:12, as would junior Savannah Sweeney who kicked the ball narrowly above the net, perhaps attempting to drop the ball from high up as the Lady Wave had in recent matches.
Dayton junior Hannah Harris frequently passed it back to Greenwalt, who seemed likely to score but couldn’t get past the Wave’s attentive defense until the ball was retrieved by Meyers, who kicked it off to Jones from the left corner who got around two forwards with her footwork.
While Mulder was back in as goalkeeper, Meyers and Jones were able to keep most of the rest of the second half in the Dust Devils’ territory with help from J.V. newcomer Kenna Hamlin who also had great footwork.
Hamlin would even have a shot on goal with a few minutes left in the match, stopped at the post and sent briefly back into Wave territory where the Dust Devils desperately tried to keep the game for the last few minutes.
The score ended 6-0 and the Wave kept their winning streak. Davis, eager to keep winning as the rest of her team, said that the Lady Wave should be able to keep winning after taking good care of their injured veterans and keeping hard at practice.
“I feel like there’s still a lot of individuals instead of everyone coming together, and all believing that we can do it,” Davis said when asked what the girls would have to pay close attention to in practice.