SLO’s record-setting defense clashes with potent South Hills offense in girls soccer regional final
When Amber Nunes lined up on defense for the San Luis Obispo girls soccer team this season, it was a foreign experience.
Not only had the freshman never played high school soccer, Nunes had never played defender.
But head coach Leslie O’Connor had a plan.
“I always believe in putting two of my best players at right back and left back, which is kind of counter intuitive to most people, but I always say, ‘my best player use them at left full back,’ ” O’Connor said. “Amber (Nunes) has been one of our best players by far all season,”
Nunes has been a big part of a San Luis Obispo (27-1-1) defense that has allowed just 10 goals in 29 games, a school record. In 20 of those games, the Tigers didn’t allow a goal, also a school record. The Tigers’ .344 goals against average is the best average out of 62 teams in the Division 3 Southern Section this season.
“We had to all work together because none of us had really played as a team. We had switched people in the back,” Nunes said. “I used to play midfield so a mistake isn’t as costly, but on defense you have to be very sure about your decisions.”
Nunes has been just that.
“She’s confident, she’s calm, she’s cool,” O’Connor said. “Nobody goes by her. She’s got a big future, really.”
The lanky freshman is part of a 4-4-2 formation that has rearranged more than pieces in a game of checkers. During San Luis Obispo’s playoff run, Nunes has been supported by the Johnson sisters, Madison (freshman) and Rylie (junior). Senior captain Grace Wearda and sophomore Sarah Attala trade out in middle and sophomore Eislee Sohner provides athleticism in goal. A fluke goal by Helix on a 40-yard shot that squirted by Sohner was the only goal in San Luis Obispo’s 3-1 semifinal win over Helix on Thursday night.
“We just started working together really well,” Rylie Johnson said of the defense. “Just talking together on the field is really important.”
If the old sports cliché is true — defense wins championships — then the Tigers are in a good spot.
The problem is, when San Luis Obispo takes the field Saturday at 1 p.m. in West Covina in the Division 3 regional final, it will be against South Hills, one of the best teams in the nation.
South Hills, which is ranked No. 9 in the nation according to MaxPreps.com, has a potent offensive attack that has scored 102 goals this season with most coming from the trio of Amber Marinero (27 goals), Hailey Zerbel (26) and Skylar Robledo (24). Helix, the team San Luis Obispo beat in the semifinals, scored 51 goals this season while the Tigers have scored 72, another school record.
“We are just going to have to be on our ‘A’ game,” Madison Johnson said. “In the back we are just going to have to be really tight and compact and get the ball out really quickly, just like we always are.”
O’Connor knows his No. 3 seeded Tigers will face a challenge against the No. 1 seeded Huskies. South Hills (25-1-5) has won every championship in its path. The team won the Palomares League with a 10-0 record and beat Yorba Linda last week to claim the CIF-Southern Section Championship. The team’s 2-1 overtime win against El Dorado in the semifinals was its 19th win in a row.
“We have wanted to play South Hills, to be perfectly honest,” O’Connor said. “They are a hell of a team. We are the underdog. Maybe the little engine might make it up to the top of the hill one more time.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "SLO’s record-setting defense clashes with potent South Hills offense in girls soccer regional final."