Girls Soccer Makes Emotional Comeback

Shouts of encouragement rang out across SDA’s supporting side as junior Emma Worthington dribbled downfield and scored with her left foot to tie the game against La Costa Canyon 3-3 in the last four minutes of the game Friday, SDA’s senior night.

SDA’s girls varsity soccer went into the second half of the season’s final home game with no goals, and a lot of emotion. LCC had entirely dominated the first half, scoring three times in the first 30 minutes, and maintaining an extremely strong defensive line.

Being down three goals, head coach Siggy Eyre provided the team with incentive to improve their level of play with a motivational halftime discussion:  “We talked about how setting goals is not just about the words, it’s about the actions, and just using the emotion of senior night in your performance, playing with some heart, and try and get the game back. And that’s what they did! It was emotional and exciting, and they totally earned it.”

The first turning point for SDA began with a cross by sophomore Dana Scott which was retrieved by senior Nadia Haghani, who then drove the ball into the goal for the game’s first home-team score.

With 25 minutes left in the second half, momentum increased as Mustangs became more determined to make a comeback. Haghani, one of 11 graduating seniors, said, “We were like, ‘we can’t lose this game, we can’t go out of this game thinking we could’ve done better.’ So we we put in a lot of heart, and thought about how this was our last home game playing together, and we wanted to make it one to remember.”

Hope faded as time moved forward, but SDA continued to play aggressively and the pace quickened. Then, with six minutes remaining, a foul inside the box resulted in a penalty kick for SDA. Junior Yarisette Sequeira took the kick and scored, bringing the score to 3-2.

The last five minutes were the most competitive of the game as SDA fought for a win against LCC. Breath was held, and fingers were crossed as Worthington achieved their final 3-3 score.

Despite uncertainty about earning a spot in this year’s CIF tournament,  Eyre said, “My goal was to get everybody in, and to find the balance between playing together as a team and trying to get the best result, and also to feel like we succeeded. And it was not looking so good! So the fact that we came back makes everybody feel better, and feel like they’re part of the team and that they contributed, which is what you want!”

The Mustangs will be back in action tonight as they face off Carlsbad during an away game.