Lady Blue Devils crowned soccer section champs
By Owen Yancher,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
In the game of soccer, a team must do four things in order to succeed: dribble, pass, shoot and score.
Saturday afternoon at Cosumnes Oaks High School, the No.2 Rocklin women’s soccer team (15-1-5) could only accomplish three of these. The missing factor for Rocklin: score.
The result: The Davis High women’s soccer team (20-0-2) is the 2016 Sac-Joaquin section champion.
Both teams scrambled hastily around the field for the first 68 minutes in a seemingly aimless fashion. But in that 68th minute, sophomore midfielder Mia Villegas put an end to the stalemate.
The solo goal of the match came off Villegas’ left cleat. Villegas capitalized on a 20-yard free kick to drill her shot into the upper lefthand corner of the Rocklin netting, securing Davis its 1-0 section title victory.
[pullquote] “We’ve worked so hard and given everything we’ve had this whole season to get to this point. We just needed to get the job done.” ~senior captain Makenna Rubinstein[/pullquote]
The junior was immediately swarmed by her teammates, who burst into jubilation following the goal.
“During the free kick my heart was pounding,” Villegas admitted. “I was debating on whether I should cross it or take the shot.”
She clearly made the right decision.
“I knew we needed a goal, and I was just hoping it would go in,” she added.
The win marked Davis’ 20th victory of the undefeated season for the Devils, who were ranked as the top team in the state.
For a couple of Lady Blue Devils, the section title victory capped off their careers as DHS athletes.
Senior Makenna Rubinstein has been a three-year varsity player. The team captain mentioned she’d been thinking about this match as her final game as a Blue Devil, but come game-time, was completely focused on winning.
“We’ve worked so hard and given everything we’ve had this whole season to get to this point,” Rubinstein said. “We just needed to get the job done.”
And they did.
Despite the departure of four key senior players (Rubinstein, Alex Diaz, Gaby Herrera and Hannah Deknikker), the team won’t have to worry about filling gaps. Four freshman made the varsity roster this past season and some even started over their more experienced teammates.
“I have the same expectations for next season,” Villegas admitted. “Repeat all that we accomplished this year: going undefeated and winning the section finals.”
Tears filled many of the girls’ eyes after the game, both of joy from the victory and of sadness for the conclusion of the season.
“It was the perfect way to end the season and end my career as a Blue Devil,” Rubinstein said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team, coach or season; it’s been so surreal. I can’t believe we finally won it all.”
