Petaluma beats Cardinal Newman 3-0 in first-round NCS soccer playoff match

The Petaluma High School girls soccer team scored two second half goals and shut out Cardinal Newman 3-0 Wednesday night in Petaluma in the first round of the North Coast Section Division 1 playoffs.

“We knew that this was going to be a good game heading into it,” said Trojans head coach Chris Daly.

With the win, Petaluma improves to 13-6 overall and advances to the second round.

The Trojans knew the importance of becoming a strong unit in order to clean up against the visiting Cardinals, said senior defender and team captain Megan Stavish. “We were talking and listening really well today,” Stavish said.

Only five minutes into the match, junior midfielder Hannah DeVoe dribbled her way through two Cardinal Newman defenders and took a shot outside the penalty that sailed over the fingers of the Cardinals keeper to put the Trojans up 1-0.

“The girls really stepped up and scored early,” Daly said. “We decided to play a little higher and once we did that, I knew the goals would start coming.”

The Trojans struck again early in the second half after Cardinal Newman goalkeeper Dani Gilson punched the ball clear during a Trojans corner kick attempt and freshman defender Tessa Lambert finished the play to increase Petaluma’s lead to 2-0.

The Trojans have come a long way with their communication, said senior defender and team captain Sydney Starke.

“Today, we really did a good job of coaching each other and listening to the coaching,” she said.

Not 13 minutes later, junior forward Amy Ferrick broke through the Cardinals’ defense and created a one-on-one opportunity against Gilson, before burying the ball into the bottom-right corner, sealing the Trojans win with their third goal of the night.

Petaluma moves on to the second round of the NCS playoffs and will face No. 1 seed and reigning NCS champ Maria Carrillo (17-2) on Saturday at 7 p.m..

“They are the favorites, I mean no one expects us to win,” Daly said. “We are embracing that underdog mentality and we are going to try as hard as we can to get that result.”