Girls soccer: Marin Catholic nets late winner to beat Branson

Through 83 minutes on Tuesday, nothing had been decided between the girls soccer teams from Marin Catholic and The Branson School. In the 84th minute, MC’s Savannah Browne and Siena White provided the decisive moment.

MC had a free kick just inside Branson’s half in the final minute of stoppage time. Browne, who had already assisted one goal off a set piece, fired a long kick into the 18-yard box. White made a run toward the ball to draw the keeper out of position and the ball found its way into the back of the net to give MC (3-2-2) a dramatic 2-1 victory.

“Obviously Savannah has a really good leg,” White said. “We rely on her a lot for those set pieces and balls further back. I decided to make the back-post run because that’s usually where her ball ends up. It was bouncing at a weird length so I decided to dummy because I thought it was the best way to fake out the goalie and get a goal.”

The game seemed destined to be a 1-1 tie until Browne connected on her second crucial set piece of the afternoon.

“I was just trying to kick it as far as I could, obviously, because we have a lot of good players who are good at getting on the end of it,” Browne said. “I was just hoping that Sloane (Carey) or someone could head it. I wasn’t really expecting it to go in at first but obviously it’s great that it did. I’m super happy that Siena was able to dummy it because that’s obviously a trick play and a lot of teams don’t see that coming so it’s a really good move. We’ve been working a lot on set pieces, too, so I’m just glad that we were able to finish one.”

Suddenly down a goal with next to no time to react, Branson (7-1-0) still managed to carve out a late chance when Sophia Duran hit the crossbar on the last kick of the game.

“I was proud of how the girls fought,” Branson coach Tyler Gottschalk said. “We went behind [1-0] and we fought back to get back into the game. We gave up a goal with 30 seconds left in stoppage time and we still create another chance and hit the crossbar. I love the girls to death for how hard they fought right to the final whistle and almost still got something out of the game.”

The teams were locked in a scoreless battle at halftime. Branson had a goal chalked off in the 15th minute after Riley Pearson played a great ball in to Luna Diaz, who was flagged for offside. MC goalie Finn Seymore kept the game scoreless in the 21st minute, parrying a shot by Pearson over the crossbar for a corner kick.

MC broke the stalemate in the 51st minute when Browne lined up a set piece from about 30-35 yards away from goal. Brown’s service found Carey inside the 18-yard box and Carey headed the ball home for a 1-0 lead.

“Savannah’s ball striking is so good. I’m trying to encourage her to play at the next level and I think she’s thinking about it,” MC coach Isaiah Schwerin said. “She can hit the driven ball, as we saw, 45 or 50 yards and put it in dangerous areas and if we attack it good things happen.”

Branson wasted little time tying the game on a move started in the 59th minute when midfielder Tait Anderson won the ball back for the Bulls. Anderson played the ball to Pearson, who took a touch forward and found Ally Hsieh just outside the 18-yard box.

Hsieh made a quick turn and fired a shot just under Seymore’s diving attempt to tie the game.

Branson came close to taking the lead in the 74th minute on a give-and-go move from Anderson to Hsieh then back to Anderson, who forced Seymore to parry the ball just wide for a corner kick.

MC came up with the late winner to claim the first of two regular-season meetings between the two teams, who are expected to be the top contenders for the MCAL title this season.

“It was super important, very crucial for our team,” White said. “We wanted it really badly. In the locker room we were talking about how much we wanted this win. We’re waiting for Nora (Snearly) to come back. We’re super excited for her and wanted to get this win for her and set the tone for what kind of team we’ll be this season.”

Both teams were missing at least one key player on Tuesday. Snearly, a transfer from Cardinal Newman, will be eligible to play in MC’s next game after the winter break. Branson was missing one of its top attacking players in Catrin Howell. The MCAL game between the two teams is set for Jan. 28.

“Obviously every time we play MC, the games are really tight and it comes down to who is going to step up and make the big play when their big moment comes,” Gottschalk said. “Today they made more of those plays and by the end of it they deserved to win because they stepped up and made those big plays.”