Wheatland owns opener

It is no surprise that the season opener between the Wheatland High and Colusa girls soccer teams was low scoring.

What might be surprising is goalies Anna West for the Pirates (1-0) and Mimi Juarez for the Redskins (0-1) did not have to play their best to keep it that way.

The only goal of the game - off the right boot of Wheatland’s Fallon Pipkins - deflected off a defender and into the net in the 23rd minute of the game.

Juarez - moving the opposite way on the shot - had no chance at the save, and Wheatland’s defense made the score hold up in a 1-0 win at home on Monday.

“It definitely helps morale and it will keep us on track,” said Wheatland sweeper Miranda Arganda, who played an outstanding game in the back. The few breakaways Colusa did manage were quickly thwarted by the junior defender.

Arganda said after Colusa had defeated the Pirates 6-0 last year, she came into the game hoping to get a tie out of the match.

“If we got the win, that would be great,” Arganda said.

The Pirates outshot Colusa 13-5, and West was hardly tested in goal, collecting up the five saves with relative ease.

Colusa’s best opportunity came a minute before halftime following a Wheatland foul. Nansi Villanueva sent a beautiful pass across the goal mouth, which West gobbled up about a foot in front of the Redskins’ hard charging striker from the right wing.

The rest of the offensive threats belonged to Wheatland.

Pipkins missed just outside the left post, and Miranda banged a direct kick off the crossbar for a couple of early chances for the Pirates.

Pipkins and Stephanie Leiva added a couple more near misses, but each outside the posts.

The goal finally came on a play set up when Colusa failed to clear out of the midfield. The ball was sent up the right seam and across to Pipkins, who settled the ball before sending her shot toward the far side of the net.

A Colusa defender slid down in attempt to stop the shot, but instead, she deflected the ball back to the near side and in the net for the score.

Pipkins said she just wanted to put pressure on the Colusa defense.

“I just tried to play fast and get to the goal,” Pipkins said.

Neither coach was ready to declare his team ready for a Northern Section title, although Colusa is the two-time defending champion in Division II.

“We’re young and inexperienced,” Redskins coach Rick Colson said. “A lot of our better players are freshmen, but they don’t have any high school experience and their skills are still developing.”

Colson said many of his players even seemed a bit intimidated.

“But we’re going to get better,” Colson added. “I think it is going to take the first half of the season to get our feet on the ground, and we should be a lot better in the second half.”

First-year Wheatland coach Joey Contreras liked a lot of what he saw from his team - especially out of the midfield and the aggressiveness of his forwards.

“But I think our real strength will be on defense,” Contreras said. “I think defensively we are going to be very good.”