SAN RAMON -- After a week off due to the mid-season festival, the Crystals faced off against the undefeated Emeralds. The Crystals were only missing Grace Platts, so there were 4 substitutes for the game. Jillian Weber came out of the gate quickly and took an uncontested shot on goal, but her shot went wide, which was a portent of things to come. After 10 minutes, the Crystals found themselves down 2-0 and facing a very stiff Emerald defense. Jillian missed on at least three more shots in that first half. But towards the end of the first half, Jillian Weber made a nice pass to Zoe Papadopolous, who was just a bit offside. The head ref didn’t call the offside immediately and let the play continue, and 30 seconds later the ball got back to Jillian who finally connected on a shot. Unfortunately, the ref then waved the shot off due to the offside that wasn’t originally called. It was one of the stranger calls that I’ve seen.

So, going into halftime, the score was 2-0 and the Crystals were feeling dejected. Early in the 2nd half Jillian came out and finally got a shot that counted to cut the Emerald’s lead to 1. Zoe Papadopolous was the second half goalie and she managed to stop and disrupt a few shots to help keep the Emeralds from adding to their lead. With about five minutes to go, Jillian Weber broke through the Emerald defense and shot it in the left corner of the goal. Two minutes later, one of the Emeralds passed the ball to Jillian who made a nice pass up to Brittany Jimena who brought it up towards the goal. Brittany ended up getting a ball to the face, but she kept going like a trooper. The ball ended up finding Jillian who had only one shot left in her, as she was exhausted because her mean coach left her in the entire second half. Jillian made the most of her last shot by shooting it right over the top of the outstretched arms of the goalie for the game winner. The Crystals managed to hold off a late Emerald rally and walk away with the 3-2 win.

The Crystals all played very hard and battled through various injuries. It was a nice win for the team against a tough opponent.


End of Game Awards
goal patch: Jillian Weber
defender of the game patch: Athena Aghighi
lightning hustle patch: Kaylee Suarez
star of the game patch: Jillian Weber

Game Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 3

Assists:

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 10
Grace Platts 2
Brittany Jimena 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Joy Tuteja 1
Sarah Chi 1

Crystals 17
Opponents 6

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 2
Jillian Weber 2