Girls’ soccer: Valencia needs to overcome Hart’s ‘mystique’

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Everybody knows the Foothill League girls’ soccer title has to go through Hart, but did anyone still believe that after seeing Valencia plow through tournament play?

After all, when Hart lost talented scorer Meghan Dean for the season with a broken leg and Valencia continued to tear off win after win, it appeared the Vikings were destined to come out on top of what would be a tight race to the top of the league.

But when the teams finally met up on Friday, Valencia was the team fortunate enough to escape with a 3-3 tie after getting worked in the first 60 minutes.

‘We were already planning a speech about what we’d say to them after the game,’ said Valencia Coach Sean O’Connell, who, at one point felt the team was heading toward its first loss. ‘But then the girls made a game out of it and we didn’t have to go through with it.’

O’Connell was relieved he didn’t have to give his team the dreaded ‘loss talk,’ and he can thank scorers Nicollette Smith, Kristen Bos and Taylor Harrison for helping the Vikings climb out of a 2-0 hole and take the lead. Still, Hart’s ability to come back and tie the game on Namiko Uno‘s late goal forced the Vikings (and Hart, also) to settle for a bittersweet result.

‘Every time you play Hart, you know it’s going to be tough no matter what kind of season they’ve had,’ O’Connell said. ‘It’s that mystique and reputation and we didn’t come into the game mentally prepared for that.’

So, don’t expect Valencia to underestimate the Indians when the two teams meet again on Jan. 29. The Vikings realize they need to beat Hart if they want to fulfill their league-title aspirations.

-- Austin Knoblauch