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Uploaded: Friday, December 14, 2012, 9:54 AM
Paly-Menlo battle to a tie; SHP girls win WBAL opener
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| Menlo School won the first half and Palo Alto the second, but neither team came away with a victory as the Knights and Vikings played to a 2-2 deadlock during a nonleague girls' soccer match on Thursday in Atherton.
It was a game of two very different halves as Menlo (1-2-3) controlled the first half with a strong team effort and Paly (1-4-1) took charge in the second half.
Menlo created many scoring opportunities early on and then jumped on top in the 10th minute on a curling 20-yard shot just inside the far post by senior Priya Medberry off an assist from junior Lindsay Karle. In the 24th minute Menlo junior Alexandra Walker sent in a cross that freshman Elena Gray knocked in from 10 yards out to give the Knights a 2-0 halftime lead.
Early in the second half, Menlo junior midfielder Amanda McFarland left the game with an injury and the game's momentum immediately changed. Palo Alto possessed the ball and created numerous scoring opportunities. The Vikings scored at 22 minutes on an 18-yard shot by Olivia Musil (her first career goal) off an assist by Nina Kelty. Then, with just seven minutes remaining, Paly's Sunny Lyu scored to the near post from 10 yards out.
Menlo goalkeeper Julia Dressel played well in the first half, finishing with four saves. Senior defenders Hannah Rubin and Rachel Pinsker along with junior Emma LaPorte led the Menlo defense/midfield.
Both teams played without key starters, sidelined by injuries. Paly was without freshman Jacey Pederson plus goalie Erin Chang and Menlo was missing Jaye Boissiere. Both teams now will be on holiday break before returning for league matches in January.
In other action Thursday:
The Sacred Heart Prep girls' soccer team opened defense of its West Bay Athletic League title with a 2-0 victory over visiting Castilleja on Thursday afternoon.
Nicola Wheeler provided the winning goal for the Gators (1-0, 5-1-1) when she sent a long ball from nearly 40 yards out that bounced past the Castilleja keeper with less than 20 minutes gone in the match.
In the second half, SHP freshman broke free and sent a cross to the middle, where senior Kendall Jager finished it off to a 2-0 lead. Jager is just getting back into action after missing two months with a sprained ankle.
Castilleja (1-3-1), which is playing six freshmen, had a good opportunity late in the match when Katherine Hobbs fired off a shot that was right at the SHP keeper. SHP did a solid defensive job, meanwhile, in blanking Castilleja junior standout Gabby Kaplan.
— Palo Alto Online Sports/Menlo Athletics Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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| Comments
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Posted by paly parent, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Dec 17, 2012 at 7:56 pm Paly needs to get rid of the girls varsity coach, Kurt Devlin. This is his second year and no one is a fan of his. He had a horrible college season and the high school season is no off to a good start. He doesn't know how to talk to the players, never makes eye contact and thinks its okay to talk badly about club coaches and give the players of the coach a hard time. Not professional and very child like. Kurt Devlin only
plays his favorites even though they have proven that they are all selfish players. And he has some special deal with the union players coach. Everyone knows how sneaky
this is and it's the kids that are suffering. Get rid of Kurt Devlin now so you can still salvage the winter season. Get rid of Eric who does not contribute to anything positive and sits back and let's Kurt be so unprofessional. Get Ernesto back....at least the players liked Ernesto. They can't stand Kurt or Eric.
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Posted by Crescent Park Dad, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Dec 19, 2012 at 7:36 am If the students don't like the coach, then the students need to go to the AD to express their issues. If that doesn't work, then they should go up the chain of command. It is no secret that Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Winston have been very involved in other coach issues in the last couple of years.
Get the kids to stand up for themselves. Nothing worse than little league parents venting on an online forum.
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Posted by Paly parent, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Dec 19, 2012 at 6:30 pm Crescent park dad--unfortunately the AD is Earl Hansen and doesn't want to be bothered with a non football issue. The entire school knows if the issue pertains to football then Hansen is your to to guy. For any non football issue these kids are left to deal with an unprofessional coach like Kurt Devlin. Hansen hired Devlin anyway before firing the last girls coach--that sort of sums up the story there. The administrators need to get out there and take in what is said during practices without making themselves seen then the honest truth will come out. Kids can't complain because if they do they won't get played--and that's the truth. It's a no win situation for these kids. When people ask questions they of course ask Kurt's favorites. Ask some kids that don't like Kurt or Eric, not their favorites and you will get the truth.
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