The Holtville girls soccer team accomplished a feat that has not been done in program history — win a playoff game.
It could not have been a more thrilling process either.
The Bulldogs escaped with a 2-1 victory, with the game coming down to penalty kicks where they outlasted Marbury, who bested them twice in the regular season. Even so, considering the team’s experience with extra time head coach John Starks knew they were going to pull through.
“Our girls all year have been resilient, and that was really the game they played,” Stark said. “It was just resilient, (we) got up early with the goal in the first 10 minutes or so. We knew it was gonna be a battle the whole night, Marbury came back and tied it up like we thought they would. But from there on out, it was our ability to disrupt what they wanted to do. And I think that was the difference in the game.”
Stark keyed in the contribution of two younger players stepping up to the plate in the game; Reagan Santucci and Mackenzie Weldon. Each of them saw time in at goalkeeper, while fending off the Marbury attack.
“We battled some injuries here and there,” Stark said. “We had excellent play from our goalkeeper for the first, probably the first 60 minutes, she needed to come out and get a break. Reagan Santucci came in and really filled in. It's not a position she's very comfortable in, and it's not something that she really looks forward to doing, but she answered the call and was really proud of her effort. Then I was really proud of Mackenzie Weldon for coming back into the game, I know she was hurting, but she came back in and was able to make the game winning save in that second round of kicks.”
This win is the start of good things to come for the Bulldogs, the team does have strong contributions from its three seniors, but the make up of the team is majority underclassmen.
“I’m very excited about the future of the program,” Stark said. “That game was a program defining win for us. We've been to the playoffs before, but we've never won one of the playoff games. So it's very, very uplifting for the girls, but we're not done yet.”
Now, Holtville will face off against another familiar foe — Elmore County. The Bulldogs finished right behind the Panthers in the area standings, but Stark knows that familiarity can again play to their benefit.
“It's going to be very similar to Marbury,” Stark said. “Elmore County is extremely athletic. They're very talented. And I really feel like it's going to come down to our ability to disrupt what they want to do. And that's been our mantra is we're playing for one more game.”
