COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Wintry temperatures did not hinder the play at Colusa’s Lady RedHawk Classic as teams engaged in some of the most competitive matches in the tournament’s three year history.
Along with the host RedHawks and Sacramento Valley League rivals Pierce and Willows, larger schools including Orland, Sutter, Corning, Las Plumas and Woodland Christian also participated in the two-day event which ran Dec. 12 and 13.
Although neither local team won the tournament, their efforts foreshadowed competition that lies ahead when league play begins in January.
Colusa got off to a strong start downing Corning, a team it had lost to 0-3 just three days prior, as the RedHawks prevailed 5-2 over the Cardinals behind a hat trick from freshman Natalee Stegall and a brace from Liz Ayala.
However, in its second match of the day, Colusa’s offense was shutdown by Las Plumas and fell 0-2 to set up a match against Orland for third place on Saturday.
Once again though, the RedHawks could not break through despite having chances, then after a scoreless first half, the Trojans got the goal they needed to defeat Colusa.
On the other side of the bracket, Pierce dropped its first match to Sutter by a score of 0-5, then later the same afternoon outlasted Willows 3-2.
Nita Rodriguez, Sophia Oliveros and Esmeralda Garcia each put one in the back of the net for the Bears in their victory over the Honkers.
In its final match of the tournament, Pierce made a late run after Olivia Dudley scored twice, but ran out of time and fell in the consolation game 2-3 to Corning.
Both teams were back in action this week with Colusa (2-4) hosting Gridley on Tuesday, making its way to Orland the following day before returning to Yeghoian Field on Saturday to face Sutter, while Pierce (1-3) had home matches against Gridley and Live Oak on Dec. 15 and 16 respectively.