The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The Long Beach Poly girls’ soccer team is packed with talented seniors, several of whom have the ability to score at a moment’s notice. But despite that fact, the Jackrabbits haven’t seen much offensive production in the first round of Moore League play, scoring just one goal in their first meetings with Wilson and Millikan. To have a shot at the league title, Poly knew that putting the ball in the net would be a must–and they did that plenty on Friday night, scoring four goals in a 25 minute stretch to bring home a 4-1 win over the Bruins.
“This was the best feeling right here,” said Poly coach Angel Zavala. “We needed this win and we needed to leave our mark with it.”
The Jackrabbits celebrated the win heartily, and with good cause. Not only did it get them over the hump offensively, it also sets up a league championship tilt at Millikan next Thursday evening. If Poly wins, they’ll bring home their first league title since 2016; if Millikan wins or earns a draw the Rams will win a third straight league title and sixth in the last seven years.
“They finally believed in themselves,” Zavala said of his squad. “The chemistry finally kicked in and that was it. We feel like we’ve dominated games but we just couldn’t finish. Tonight they believed in each other and they showed it tonight.”
Believe it or not for a game with five goals, there wasn’t much action in the first half as the two athletic and aggressive teams felt each other out. Wilson had some threatening moments thanks to the ball skills of Zoe and Kai Fontenot, the junior twins committed to Miami, and Poly saw a beautiful corner kick from Washington State signee Aaya McLyn headed wide by Leah Salas.
Poly certainly controlled the run of play more in the first half, which could have led to some frustration at the 40 minutes of scoreless soccer–reminiscent of the way the first half of league play went. But there was an air of certainty in the Poly halftime meeting.
“We just knew it came down to this game if we’re trying to go for Moore League,” said Poly senior Katana Van Deusen. “We just knew we needed to score more goals and we knew we could do it today.”
Van Deusen was the one to break the seal in the 55th minute, after a rocket free kick by McLyn from 45 yards out was deflected wide, dropping it right to Van Deusen. She finished it confidently to give Poly a 1-0 lead and just their second goal of the year against the other top two teams in league.
The celebration was shortlived as Wilson’s Leah Garcia would punch home an equalizer off a nice ball played into the box by Evan Cassidy just four minutes later. Even still, Poly’s confidence didn’t waver.
Makayla Quesada put the Jackrabbits ahead for good in the 64th minute on a 40-yard wonder strike that left no doubt, firing on a straight line into the upper third of the goal. Qesada bought her own insurance policy six minutes later with another score to make it 3-1 Poly. McLyn took a deep run into the box a few minutes later, with JV call-up Mairead McGovern finishing that to make it 4-1.
“I always come in thinking I need to score because I know what I can do,” said Quesada, who is a Chico State commit. “I was able to deliver for my team today.”
Quesada and McLyn agreed that the biggest improvement for Poly in the game was their off-ball movement and the way they were able to control the tempo through the midfield. McLyn plays defensive mid for Poly and is a big part of that–it was fitting that she helped set up two of the Jackrabbits goals, as she was also able to help the talented Poly back line that includes San Jose State commit Sydney Santos and Alex Valente.
“I like that I can settle the game down when we’re going too fast or I can speed it up if we’re going to slow,” said McLyn. “Playing in the middle requires 360 vision and so I try to keep the team settled and calm so that we can play with each other.”
The change in Poly’s approach was clearest on Quesada’s second goal, to put Poly up 3-1. Six Jackrabbits touched the ball as they built from the back all the way up to Quesada.
“I’m feeling the most joy just because everybody left everything on the field tonight,” said McLyn. “We all had each other’s back, we played for each other, for the people on the bench. The energy was there.”
Poly will travel to Millikan next Thursday for a Moore League title showdown while Wilson will wrap up league play and look to play strong in the postseason in two weeks.
