Freshman scores two goals in San Luis Obispo High girls soccer team’s playoff win

Freshman Amelia Corpuz Carr made quite an impression in her first high school playoff game.

The freshman striker scored two second-half goals for San Luis Obispo on Thursday night in the Tigers’ 2-0 win over Lancaster in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.

After a 0-0 halftime score, Corpuz Carr scored her first goal in the seventh minute of the second half, but it was her second goal that dazzled the crowd at San Luis Obispo High.

Off of a Lancaster corner kick, Olivia Ortiz gave Corpuz Carr a running start with a long pass up the sideline. Corpuz Carr took two touches, carried it 20 more yards and blasted a right-footed shot past the keeper for the goal.

“She slotted it,” San Luis Obispo coach Leslie O’Connor said. “Bottom corner on the weak side. Excellent goal. And she knew what she was doing. She’s a player.”

“I got past the defender and I thought I had a good enough angle to take the shot. If it didn’t make it, the goalie would either push it back out to Grace (Park), so I decided to take it,” Corpuz Carr said.

For a team that had not suffered a defeat all season, it wasn’t the best start. San Luis Obispo (23-0-1, 14-0 PAC 8) attacked in the first half, outshooting Lancaster 6-1, but couldn’t find the net.

“It was frustrating. We realized it wasn’t going to be just one of our league games. If we didn’t win, we were going home so we had to put it all out there. ” Corpuz Carr said. “Their defense was really persistent and they put up a good fight against our offense, but we kept going at them and eventually we got one.”

O’Connor said the 3 p.m kick-off may have contributed to the team’s slow start after playing most of the season at 6:30 p.m.

“Most coaches would say the first playoff game is the most difficult,” O’Connor said.

San Luis Obispo will face either Pacifica (Garden Grove) or Claremont in a second-round game Tuesday. Game time, for now, is scheduled for 3 p.m.

“This is my first time in the playoffs and I don’t really know what to expect,” Corpus Carr said. “But I know that hard work is what is going to get us there.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Freshman scores two goals in San Luis Obispo High girls soccer team’s playoff win."