With high energy while getting game ready to Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten”, the Sea Hawks prepared for their first Bay League game of the season against Torrance High School. By working together and being patient on the field, Redondo shut them out, winning 4-0.
The girls had a slower first half of the game, but picked it up in the second. Torrance showed some opposition, but the Sea Hawks’ play on the field ultimately gave them the advantage on the field.
“Torrance is a great team. They’re very physical, and I think that our team just combatted that with our physicality as well,” senior center back Brianna Bogar said. “As a team, we work really well together and [how we played] really showed our performance and how strong we can be against all these top competitors in the Bay League.”
From kickoff, Torrance was able to stay on Redondo’s half of the field early on. However, Redondo’s defense held strong, and once they got up the field, they showcased their strong passing. With this, they crossed the ball to the opposite side of the field, and managed to get the ball to senior Mackenzie Baird for a long goal, making the score 1-0.
“We were really calm on the ball, which helped us a lot to go forward,” junior outside back Rachel Jacobson said. “Playing together as a team helped us score, [and] most of our goals were off the top of the box [from] playing together, just being patient with it.”
Redondo picked up the pace the rest of the half, getting on Torrance’s side of the field more often and getting good shots on goal. The Sea Hawks also defended their goal well, and by the time the whistle blew at halftime, the score stayed 1-0.
“I think that they did a really good job possessing [the ball],” Bogar said. “This is our first ever Bay League game together and so in the beginning we were just struggling a bit with […] just knowing where to be because they did have more people in the midfield than us. So I think we were a bit confused on whether or not to man mark or whether or not to stay compact in the middle.”
In the second half Redondo struggled to get up the field, but was then able to push forward to stay comfortably in Torrance’s half. Although there weren’t many shots on goal, the girls were able to move the ball to junior center forward Mykaela Romero for the second goal of the game, setting the score 2-0. The goal also picked up the energy for the rest of the game, as the Sea Hawks were on Torrance’s half of the field for the majority of the second half.
“During halftime we really locked in and as our team would say, [entered a] sort of ‘flow state’ in the second half where we all just came together as a team and really stepped up on defense as well as offense,” Bogar said. “We were able to counter them a lot […] and I think that after we got that second goal, we just kept going and going even more. It was a big motivator for the rest of the game.”
With the second goal setting the tone, two more goals were scored. Off a free kick, freshman winger Syra Zenter scored inside the box, and later on, off a corner kick, senior center forward Megan Hogentogler scored as well. Redondo held Torrance off and finished the game with a score of 4-0.
“I think that our momentum picked up, and we were able to score more goals and keep going together as a team,” Jacobson said. “I feel like one goal after another, we just kept getting more excited. We also really like to beat Torrance [because] it’s a competitive, rival game.”
Coming off their success in the South Tournament the week prior, this win also gives the Sea Hawks more momentum as they move through the season.
“Our first goal [as a team] was to win the South Tournament, and we won that,“ Bogar said. “Winning the first game of the Bay League is going to be a great setup for the rest of the season because I think that with this win, we’re getting more confidence within each other, and we can really see the kind of team we are. Winning this game is really big, and they’re a great team, so I think now we have that confidence going into future games for the Bay League, and [achieve] our [next] goal to win the Bay League.”
