Photo by William Perales
Of the eight seniors celebrating their final regular season home game yesterday at Poly, three got on the scoreboard as the Jackrabbits took down the visiting Lakewood Lancers, 3-1, to clinch a second place finish in the Moore League. Poly finishes at 9-1-2 and Lakewood falls to 8-4-0.
Keyana Thompson-Shaw scored in the 15th minute, Jazmine Rhodes tallied one ten minutes later, and Megan Brock pushed it to a two goal lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Put simply by Poly coach Teri Collins, “yeah, that was pretty special.”
All three are the senior leaders on the team, but Thompson-Shaw is an inspiring story for any fan or player. The natural forward has been on varsity for four years, but missed most of this year with a serious knee injury.
“We’ve been working her back slowly, but her toughness is just a testament to what kind of kid she is,” said Collins. “Some athletes come back timid, but she’s jumping and diving for balls… I had to fill a spot at midfield, and she just said ‘I’ll do it’.”
Thompson-Shaw put that hustle to good use in the 15th minute when she lundged to stop a bouncing ball in the box. With one knee falling to the ground, she reached out with her surgically repaired leg and poked it home for the game’s first goal.
Rhodes, headed to Cincinnati on a soccer scholarship, followed suit in the 25th minute when she turned quick at the top of the box and scored on a low line drive that bounced off the near side post.
Even though they were outshot 16-to-10 and played most of the game in their own end, the Lancers showed some grit and fight in stretches, one of which came after Rhodes’ goal. Kassidy Hause and Kendahl Fisher got the Lakewood offense going with some good fast play that earned a free kick in the 39th minute. House’s service was perfect and it bounced inches behind the Poly back line. Fisher beat her defender to the spot and flicked the ball just enough to find top shelf netting that sent the teams to halftime at 2-1.
But Brock, headed to academic monster Swarthmore, had the answer and gave Poly the two-goal lead right back with an incredible, falling down volley from about 35-yards out that found the heart of the goal just out the reach of Lakewood keeper Lezlie Perez. The Lancers had a few more chances late in the game, but Celeste Moncure made some huge saves to preserve the victory that sends both teams to the playoffs feeling good.
“A few weeks back we did the same thing and folded to Wilson and this team,” said Lakewood coach Scott Manson. “We dug in and showed some fight… you have to win with heart against these teams.” Of the 19 goals allowed by the Lancers in league play, all of them were scored by Wilson and Poly.
“Last year we were too high on our league title and we didn’t play the playoffs,” said Collins of her team last year that knocked off Wilson for the Moore League, only to get knocked off by Santa Margarita in the first round. “I marched them into the gym the other day and I pointed up to the 1995 GIrls’ Soccer CIF Championship banner. They won it without a Moore League title, so can we.”