Sports
PD Girls Soccer Moves On To CIF Quarterfinals
Mikalya Mendoza scores three goals in the Lady Aztecs 4-1 CIF win.
During the pregame warm-ups, one of the Palm Desert girls shouted to her teammates, “We’re on a seven-game winning streak, lets make it eight.”
Junior forward Mikayla Mendoza must have been listening.
Mendoza was unstoppable Tuesday, scoring three times as the Palm Desert girls soccer team rolled to a 4-1 win over visiting Grace Brethren in the second round of the CIF- Southern Section Division 5 playoffs.
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Palm Desert advances to the quarterfinal round for the first time in eight years. The Lady Aztecs will host No. 1 seed Lancaster Desert Christian Thursday at 3 p.m.
“We have a great team this year, the girls are all very well-rounded,” Palm Desert head coach Jayme Webb said after the game, "We really wanted it.”
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The Lady Aztecs had the better of things from the start, looking faster and more technically skilled than Grace Bretheren, who came into the desert with just one loss on the season.
Mendoza opened the scoring in the 16th minute, after turning a Lancers defender on her heels and firing a bullet from about 10 yards out. Nine minutes later, Mendoza added an assist with a beautiful corner kick that sophomore midfielder Brigette Crisp headed into the net.
Palm Desert sophomore goalkeeper Katie Drake was untested until late in the first half, when a shot rattled off a post. A free kick minutes later forced Drake to make a diving save to her right.
The Lady Aztecs seem to let down after Mendoza’s second goal just two minutes into the second half. Up 3-0, the PD girls let their foot off the gas a bit and paid the price.
Grace Brethren senior forward Sam Romero played a long free kick at the Aztec goal. Drake came out unopposed, but the ball took a high bounce, surprising the goal keeper, who saw it sail over her outstretched arms and into the net.
“When they scored it was like ‘uh oh’,” coach Webb said on the wake up call for her team, “ that’s when we came back into it and started doing the pressure again.”
Palm Desert’s defensive pressure lead to more offense, with a smothered shot from junior forward Lilly Green, followed by Mendoza’s third goal moments later.
