Cardinal Newman’s girls soccer team advanced to the regional semifinals of the Northern California Division 2 playoff tournament behind a two-score performance from senior Clover Chavez on Tuesday night.
Both of her goals came in the second half of the third-seeded Cardinals’ home win over No. 6 St. Ignatius College Preparatory of San Francisco.
Newman’s opening goal came in the 47th minute off a cross by senior Bella D’Amico to the right side of the field, where Chavez found the ball.
“We saw in the film that there’s a big gap of space, and we wanted to attack that,” Chavez said. “With Bella on the ball I knew she could get the ball there, so I just started making that run, she saw me and once it got to my chest, I just put it in.”
Her second goal of the night came in the 67th minute, and was a little more chaotic. Chavez put it in the back of the net after the ball rebounded a few times in the goal area.
“It hit off another defender and then we just kept tracking the ball,” Chavez said. “We kept being really aggressive. I just got to it and hit it in again.”
Chavez was playing midfielder earlier this season until she was slotted into the outside back role, Cardinal Newman head coach John Gilson noted.
“She’s kind of steadied the right side,” Gilson said. “I like how she’s attacking because in the past, she stayed back, then we’re not filling that back end — and now she’s just taken off.”
The Cardinals defense delivered a second straight shutout. Senior goalkeeper Sofia Kerrigan has allowed just one goal during the North Coast Section and NorCal playoffs.
“Knowing that I have our two center backs and our goalkeeper back there, I feel 100% comfortable to go and push up, and not really have to worry too much about dropping back,” Chavez said. “It’s been really helpful in order to keep us scoring.”
Kerrigan’s performance in goal this season has impressed Gilson.
“She’s obviously very good, but it takes the kids in front of her to work and play well,” Gilson said.
Cardinal Newman’s 1-0 loss to Carondelet in the first round of the NCS tournament’s Open division was a learning moment.
“That was our first complete loss of the season. So, going into this game, we knew what a loss felt like. We didn’t want it to happen again,” Chavez said.
Gilson said every game in the playoffs has seemed like a new venture.
“We were in the Open (division) this year, and I think it kind of helped us with this game,” Gilson said. “So now we go into these games, and we’re not intimidated by the physical play.”
Now, Cardinal Newman (15-1-4) will host No. 7 San Ramon Valley (14-3-2) at 5 p.m. Thursday with a trip to the regional finals on the line.
The two schools shared three common opponents this season in Amador Valley, Carondelet and Ukiah. Cardinal Newman is 3-1 against those teams compared to San Ramon Valley’s 1-2-1 record.