Vacaville High girls edge Vanden in key soccer match in MEL - Vacaville Reporter

The Vacaville High girls soccer team has won the Monticello Empire League championship for three years in a row. The Bulldogs are letting the league know that they are not giving up that crown without a fight.

Technically the home team on Wednesday night, the Bulldogs had to play on Vanden’s field because Vacaville’s is getting a makeover. Even that didn’t deter the Bulldogs from grinding out a 1-0 victory over a very tough Viking squad.

With the win, Vacaville and Vanden are both 5-2 in MEL, only trailing league-leader Rodriguez, which is 6-0-1.

Vaca High’s Lauren Gammon battles for the ball with Vanden’s Aaryah Scott during the second half of the Bulldogs league victory over the Vikings Wednesday at Vanden.(Joel Rosenbaum — The Reporter)

Vacaville controlled possession in the early going. Less than four minutes into the contest, junior speedster Aspin Oliver took the ball from a little past midfield on the right sideline and blew by her defender, who was a good five yards in front of her. Oliver blazed toward the goal and blasted it into the net for a 1-0 lead that the Bulldogs managed to cling to the rest of the contest.

“They (Vacaville’s players) were given instructions that we had a couple of target players that we needed to look for (Oliver was one of them)” said Bulldog head coach Drew Talton. “So when we had an opportunity we would push because we had a little bit of speed on them.”

Vacaville barely missed on two other shots in the opening five minutes and kept the ball in Vanden’s end much of the first half. But the tide began to shift toward the end of the first half, with Vanden pressing and just missing on several opportunities.

“We weren’t connecting the passes like we should so there were a lot of missed plays,” Talton said. “So they had a lot of chances to come at us because we just weren’t getting the balls… I always tell them, ‘We can bend, but just don’t break.’ We did that a lot last year and we were able to do that, thanks to (goalie) Bella (Kunde) playing solid and our defenders — all of them played fantastic tonight.”

Kunde had 12 saves, one of them a spectacular leaping grab on a hard shot from just five yards out with 4:53 left in the first half. But what was most impressive were the senior co-captain’s glue-like hands, as she did not allow the ball to escape her grasp for second or third chances for Vanden.

“Her hands were money,” Talton said. “Everything that was in her hands she kept close to her or she straight up caught them… She made some great saves.”

The one time Kunde couldn’t be there, teammate Jazmyn Chaikittirattana was. Nicknamed Squirrel, the junior defender was standing next to the far post to Kunde’s right on a Vanden corner kick that got loose in front of the goal. A Viking blasted the ball right at Chaikittirattana, who blocked and then cleared it.

For those who remember Kristine Lilly’s save for the U.S. women against China in the 1999 World Cup, it was a déjà vu moment.

Unlike Lilly, Chaikittirattana is one of the shortest players on the team. But she was big enough to make the save on the critical shot. She said that she and the team had practiced that corner kick setup for the first time the day before last night’s game. When the ball hit her in Wednesday’s match, she said to herself, “Wow, it actually worked!”

Sophomore Lauren Gammon, called up from the junior varsity to play against Vanden, also had an outstanding game as a defender. Talton pulled her up in part to allow co-captain and third-year starter Jenna Bosetti to play left and right wings rather than defender on Wednesday.

Gammon was one of five sophomore starters against Vanden.

“Vanden had plenty of opportunities, and so did we,” Talton said, “It is a game of inches sometimes, and we were able to have it swing our way tonight.”