Soccer is becoming one of Healdsburg High’s most popular winter sports, with 20-player rosters for both boys and girls teams.
The boys team has not been able to get much traction in the rain-soaked field, and neither have most of its opponents. The NBL-Redwood league standings show many of the teams have more tie games than either wins or losses. The Greyhounds, for instance, have two wins and no losses, but four tie games—Piner High, just ahead of them in the league standings, is 3-0-3.
Only first-place Analy seems to have a grip on the game in this soggy weather, with its 4-1-1 record.
Both of the boys soccer matches last week ended in ties, a 1-1 game at Piner on Feb. 5, and a 0-0 game in Healdsburg against Elsie Allen two days later.
Leading scoring for the Greyhounds are Jairo Mendoza with 10 goals and five assists, and goalkeeper Roy Paz with eight shutouts.
Games still on the schedule until the end of the regular season include a match in Sebastopol against league-leading Analy on Wednesday (results too late for press time) and a final home game on Friday, Feb. 14, against Santa Rosa (2-5).
Friday’s game will be a chance to recognize the 12 senior boys in the soccer program.
Girls Stay Busy
The most recent girls soccer match to be played in Healdsburg was Feb. 6, against Elsie Allen, but it was Senior Night for the squad. The game followed the ceremonies held in East Gym, out of the pelting rain, which lasted as long as it could.
Five junior varsity seniors were honored this year—Yaranaxali Castro, Iara Valdez, Natalia Soriano, Lizbeth Paola Lopez and Jennifer Sanchez.
The recognized Varsity seniors all made their names known in the game that followed against Elsie Allen. Despite the downpour, the Healdsburg girls played with enthusiasm and easily defeated Elsie Allen, 4-1.
Seniors Julia Dolph and Maddie Munselle found the back of the net, senior Kim Lopez played an excellent game in goal supported by seniors Sophia Saini and Lola Hagen on defense. The sole freshman on the starting line-up, Renata Maturana, scored with a header off a corner kick by Dolph in the closing minutes.
The final three games of the season are all this week, on successive days—a result of a couple of rain-delayed games earlier in the year. Tuesday saw a clutch game against Piner (7-0, in first place, won the match 3-0), then against Santa Rosa (1-4) on Wednesday, a makeup game from last week’s rainstorm.
The three-game streak finally ends at Rancho Cotate (4-2) on Thursday, and with it the end of the season.
But don’t lose all hope: On Sunday they announce the playoffs, and if the galloping Greyhound gals make it, there might be more games to play next week.
