Lady RedHawks shut out Yellowjackets

An early penalty kick led to a goal by Sandra MacPherson and Colusa High beat Williams High for the second time this season, winning 3-0 on Tuesday in Williams.

MacPherson's goal in the seventh minute remained the only goal of the game until late in the first half when the RedHawks overwhelmed the Yellowjackets defense for a 2-0 lead.

Kaytlin Lorenzini set up the score with a shot that ricocheted to MacPherson, who passed to Samantha Espindola for the goal.

The RedHawks had the speed advantage but cost themselves several chances for goals in the first half by racking up several offside penalties.

Williams (3-3-2) nearly scored at the start of the second half but Colusa midfielder Aimee Maldanado deflected a shot by Isabel Contreras, and Estefania Aceves' follow-up attempt sailed high.

"Today we just weren't in our game. Our passing wasn't good but, you know what, it wasn't our day. Maybe next time it will be our day," Williams coach Lupe Villanueva said.

The Yellowjackets survived a counter-attack by the RedHawks when Lorenzini and Espindola couldn't find the net from deep inside Williams' territory.

Lorenzini broke through for Colusa's third goal, catching Yellowjackets' goalkeeper Allison Ward off balance with a sliding shot across her body off an assist by MacPherson.

"That was a real nice goal because (Lorenzini) was in good position. Usually she attempts that when she's too far out and it just goes out of play, but she was in the right spot doing that and it went in the net and the goalie didn't have a chance," Watt said.

Carina Navarro nearly put Williams on the scoreboard with a clear shot during a 2-on-1 breakaway, but RedHawk goalie Ashleigh Biggs cut off the angle and stopped Navarro's line-drive kick.

Both Biggs and Ward made several nice saves throughout the rest of the second half to keep the score at 3-0. Biggs made five saves while securing the shutout and Ward made eight saves for Williams.

Without much depth at the goalie position after veteran goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mena graduated last year, Biggs was asked to move from her midfield position.

Biggs works hard in practice to learn her new position and is steadily improving, according to Watt, who added, "(Biggs) is a good athlete but she doesn't 100 percent like being a goalie, she'd like to play on the field," he said. "It's her first year (playing goalie) and she's given up some goals before that she probably wouldn't give up today."

The win kept the RedHawks (6-2, 4-1 Sacramento Valley League-Two) within striking distance of Esparto High (8-1, 4-0-1 SVL-Two) for the league title.

Colusa lost to Esparto in the teams' first meeting of the year, but MacPherson and Rebecca Velasquez missed that game, Watt said.

"With (Velazquez) we're a lot better, she's a real good ball handler," he said. "She didn't really show much of her stuff today because we were all jammed up in the middle but she's a real good playmaker. We didn't have her for Esparto and we didn't have (MacPherson) for Esparto so I think we're at full strength now, finally."

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.