Last Friday’s Metro Conference girls field hockey game between the host Bonita Vista Barons and Otay Ranch Mustangs could, in the words of Baron coach Ernesto Luna, stand up as the deciding factor in this year’s championship race.
Bonita Vista, the defending league champion, emerged with a 1-0 victory on a goal scored by Maddie Penera, assisted by Mailyn Nishiguchi, with six minutes left in regulation time.
Luna, for one, did not feign a heavy sigh of relief.
“It was very uncertain at the beginning — Otay Ranch had the ball on our side of the field virtually the whole first 15 minutes of the game,” Luna said. “In the second half we were able to play the ball to the right side of the field where we had more success attacking.”
The Mustangs carried a 2-0 league record into last Friday’s high profile contest riding wins against Eastlake (1-0 on Oct. 7) and Chula Vista (2-0 on Oct. 12). Last Friday’s match-up was the second in league play for the Barons, who defeated Chula Vista, 2-0, on Oct. 7.
Cassidy Arendt recorded her second consecutive shutout victory for the Barons, who tipped host Hilltop, 2-1, in overtime on Wednesday to improve to 3-0 in league play.
Samantha Montoya and Nishiguchi scored goals in Bonita Vista’s win over CVHS while Nishiguchi and Romina Ruiz scored against Hilltop.
The Barons improved to 12-2-2 overall following Monday’s key non-league victory against visiting Westview. Nishiguchi scored the game-winning goal.
Otay Ranch defeated Eastlake on a goal by Kassie Becerra. Laura Kinkade and Lauren Cekander had goals in the Mustangs’ subsequent win over the Spartans.
Eastlake (4-3-1, 1-1 in league) defeated Hilltop in strokes on Oct. 12 to join the championship race. The game ended 0-0 through overtime and Titan goalie Sahar Aminizai made three saves in the ensuing strokes tie-breaker.
Chula Vista then jumbled the standings with a 3-2 OT win over Eastlake on Wednesday.
