Jacks eliminated from 2A district tournament
MIKE MAYNARD | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 3 weeks AGO
QUINCY — The Quincy Jacks (10-7-1) were defeated 2-1 by the Prosser Mustangs and eliminated from the 2A district tournament Tuesday. Head coach Jesse Villalobos said the loss was tough because of the potential he saw in his team.
“It's tough, especially when you lose at home in an important game like this. I feel for the team, that's the way that this game goes. Sometimes you play really good, you play better than the other team, and unfortunately, you don't get the result,” Villalobos said.
Villalobos said they made good on their goal to start fast as they put Prosser on their heels for the first 20 minutes and scored a goal to take a 1-0 lead. However, the Mustangs responded shortly after tying the game before halftime.
“We were really hoping that it was just going to open up, and just have the girls just play with freedom and fluidity,” Villalobos said. “We've seen them play before, but no, we blink our eyes and they're at the other end, and they're tapping it in... it took away that really high momentum that we were wanting to continue the game with.”
In the second half, the Jacks and the Mustangs went back and forth with ball control. Both teams had close calls with shots on goal. However, the Mustangs found an opening for a shot on goal and banked it off the upper left corner of the goal to take a 2-1 lead over the Jacks.
With just under 20 minutes left in the second half, the Jacks continued to fight to the very end. Brielle Baughman and Arlene Bolanos had a few runs to set up shots on goal but the Jacks were unsuccessful in their attempts to tie the game.
The Mustangs halted any momentum the Jacks tried to build long enough for the clock to run out, and they secured the win to advance further into the district tournament. Villalobos said his team believed they were the better team, but the Mustangs' size helped them win a lot of aerial balls.
“Sometimes those balls getting knocked out of the air is big for them because it doesn't create mistakes. It doesn't give an opportunity for girls to create mistakes. They won basically all of the aerial duals,” he said.
With the loss, that brings the Jacks girls soccer season to an end. In their second season in the Central Athletic Conference, they improved from 7-10-1 in 2024 to 10-7-1 this season. Villalobos said this team is still young and he feels confident they will continue to be able to build off the momentum they captured this season.
“I think we're heading in the right direction. We definitely had a good team, a good enough team to at least have a look at possibly going to state. The CWAC is tough, strong and we're fortunate that this year, and hopefully for the next few years to come, that we get that extra seed, because this is a very competitive conference,” Villalobos said.
BOX SCORE:
PRSR: 1-1: 2
QNCY: 1-0: 1
ARTICLES BY MIKE MAYNARD
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