The reigning Trans-Valley League and Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 champions got off on the right foot this week.
After achieving a 6-3-2 record in the preseason, the Hilmar High girls’ soccer team — the Northern California Regional Division 5 runners-up roughly 10 months ago — opened up 2024-25 conference play Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Ripon Christian thanks to a late goal from junior Alyssa Colston and an 8-1 throttling of Escalon on Friday.
Colston’s goal Wednesday came in the 50th minute of the defensive struggle between the rivals. It was set up by a pair of powerful shots from Raylynn Mendoza and Alexis Aguiar.
Mendoza, a sophomore, sped past defenders before firing just the third shot-on-goal of the day. It was partially blocked by goalkeeper Morgan Schenk. Aguiar, a junior, took the rebound shot that was once again denied by Schenk, but a bobble from the junior goalkeeper bought just enough time for Colston to run into the box and fire the ball into the back of the net.
“I just think, ‘Go for anything.’ Any time I see the ball in front of the goal, just go for it,” Colston said. “It worked out today.”
The score helped avenge a 3-1 loss to the Knights just four days prior at Ripon Christian’s home tournament. It also proved that despite last year’s success, the ‘Jackets have room for improvement.
Colston is one of four players who joined the team less than a month ago, as she, Teygan Horstmeier and Finley Rosa were busy leading the school’s volleyball program to the Northern California championship. Meanwhile, Sidney Logsdon was running with the cross country team all the way to the CIF State race. Others were healing up from injuries suffered during the school’s inaugural flag football campaign. All in all, Saturday’s loss was just the first game in which all members of the team were available to play.
“This was only our second game together,” head coach Guy Bettencourt said after Wednesday’s win. “We cleaned some things up, and now this can set the tone for the rest of the season. I’m so proud of the way they responded to the loss.”
Most of the first half was played in the midfield. The second frame saw the Yellowjackets have significantly more time of possession, though the Knights had their fair share of threats. Helping keep the Knights, at bay, though was goalkeeper Kayden Elston, who rejected eight shots, including five in the final 25 minutes.
Elston is one of five seniors on Hilmar’s roster this season. After experiencing the emotional rollercoaster of last year’s regional playoffs, she is confident that her team can continue to clean up their early-season rust and get back into sync.
“That last game pretty much showed us that if we don’t play as a team, we’re not going to be them (Ripon Christian) or a lot of other teams,” she said. “We definitely played better than we did on Saturday, but we still aren’t at our best.”
Things really started taking shape against Escalon. The seven-point margin was more reminiscent of last year’s squad whose five of 24 wins came by four goals or more. In that game, Colston and Mendoza exploded for three goals each. Logsdon and junior Brisa Gonzales also found the back of the net in the blowout.
“After last year’s run, we know what we’re capable of,” Elston continued. “It definitely hurt that we came up short, but we know we can make it back and the work it takes to accomplish what we did. We know we can do it again, and it starts with making those fixes now.”
Last year’s TVL title was the team’s first in six years. The section banner was the first won since the 2007-08 season. The NorCal appearance, meanwhile, was their first in history.
The TVL season continues Jan. 3 against 4-1 Sonora at the Hilmar High campus.
