CIF-SS Playoffs: Apple Valley moves on to the second round with a shutout against Canyon
Thursday night’s CIF-Southern Section Division 3 first-round matchup between Canyon and Apple Valley felt like business as usual for the Sun Devils.
Ever since the new year started, the Apple Valley girls soccer team completely dominated the Mojave River League. They won all 10 of their league games and they did it by outscoring their opponents 59-1.
But success in the playoffs is never a sure thing.
The Sun Devils have made it out of the first round once in the last three years so there could have been an element of doubt heading into the game against Canyon.
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That feeling went away fairly quickly as Apple Valley was all over Canyon, and won 5-0 to move on to the second round.
“I think that we expected to get over this hump. We weren’t really thinking too much about the past, just this season and what kind of team we got this year and we knew that we could get past the first round,” Apple Valley head coach Nicole Stephens said.
Stephens says it usually takes about 15 minutes or so into the game for her team to get going. But the Sun Devils were firing out the gate with shots by Jadyn Bechtel and Alia Collins.
The early pressure eventually resulted in a goal eight minutes in from a cross by Sarah Fort that was headed in by Kyleigh Fuller.
Canyon’s brief glimpses of getting the ball upfield came after this opening goal where they got their only corner during the game but it resulted in nothing.
The Sun Devils got their next two goals within minutes of each other later in the first half. A corner taken by midfielder Samantha Most was perfectly placed in the box for Kaydence Bonneau to head it in.
Less than two minutes later, Most found herself with the ball in the middle of the field about 30 yards away from the goal. Most took the shot herself and bounced it right past Canyon’s goalkeeper, who hardly even moved to block it.
“I just really saw an open shot and took it. I thought it was going to be a little wide,” Most said.
Despite scoring more goals in the first half, the second half for the Sun Devils was even more dominant. Canyon mustered two shots off, which came very late in the half, and seemed to only keep the ball a few seconds in possession before Apple Valley would come take it back.
Bechtel, who leads the team with 28 goals, scored 10 minutes into the half after previously missing a few shots. Collins scored Apple Valley’s final goal late in the half.
They said it
Most on how she felt after a dominant first-round win: “It’s just good to get on a roll, no goals scored on us so good going into it.”
Stephens on the team starting off better than previous games: “I think we came out a little bit hungrier in this game. We scored faster than we ever have before in any other game this season so I think that that showed on the field that this is important to us.”
What’s next
Apple Valley, the No. 2 seed in Division 3, is back on Saturday for the second round to face St. Joseph from Lakewood. St. Joseph finished third in the Del Rey League behind St. Genevieve and Bishop Amat, and beat Mayfield 1-0.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: CIF-SS Playoffs: Apple Valley blanks Canyon, moves on to the 2nd round
