By Dick Sparrer
Carrie Walsh saved the day for the Los Gatos girls' soccer team.
Literally!
The Gatos goalkeeper blocked two of the first three shots she faced in a penalty-kick shootout to decide the championship in the San Marcos Tournament in Santa Barbara.
When her Wildcat teammates drilled three straight penalty kicks, the Cats not only had beaten South Torrance, but they had won their second straight San Marcos tourney title.
So actually, Walsh didn't just save the day--she saved the tournament for Los Gatos!
Gatos had opened the tourney with back-to-back 3-1 wins over Quartz Hill and La Reina before beating Mira Costa 3-0 in the quarterfinals.
That's when the going got tough for the Wildcats. They battled La Serna to a scoreless tie before winning a tight 4-3 decision on penalty kicks, and that set up the title game with South Torrance.
Los Gatos opened up an early lead with two goals in the first half. Stephanie Lappen knocked in a goal off an Amie Salfen assist, and Natalie Stuhlmueller scored off an Amy White assist to give the Cats the early lead.
But South Torrance tied it with two goals in the second half and the clubs were headed to overtime.
Make that four overtimes!
The clubs matched zeroes for four extra periods to set up a penalty kick shootout to decide the title.
Walsh was up to the challenge. She came through with a pair of saves, and Los Gatos knocked in three straight goals to clinch the win.
Senior co-captains White, a sweeper, and Stacey Mallison, a midfielder, were each named to the all-tournament team for the efforts. Stuhlmueller led all Gatos scorers in the tourney with three goals and four assists.
It was freshman Stacey Caro coming through with a clutch penalty kick to snap a 3-3 tie in the shootout with La Serna in the tournament semifinals.
The Wildcats, 5-0-2 for the year, opened the tourney with the 3-1 win over La Reina. Anne Zuparko knocked in an unassisted goal and assisted Stuhlmueller on another to lead the Cats to the victory. Caro scored off a Mallison assist to round out the scoring.
Passes from Stuhlmueller and Caro set up Lappen for a goal, Salfen scored off a Caro assist and Mallison took passes from Stuhlmueller and Adrianne Busi to score in the 3-1 win over Quartz Hill.
The win pushed the Cats into the tourney quarterfinals where they handled Mira Costa 3-0. Stuhlmueller had a goal and two assists to lead Gatos to the victory. Salfen and Zuparko also scored goals and Lappen had an assist.
Los Gatos had opened the season with two wins in its own Los Gatos Invitational before rain washed away the final games of the tourney.
The Cats blanked Mission San Jose 2-0 on goals by Lappen and Busi off of assists from Kelly Lumby and Melissa Schmidt.
Gatos shut out Amador Valley 3-0 a game later. Mallison had a goal and an assist to lead the Cats. Salfen and Busi added goals and Stuhlmueller had two assists.
Los Gatos plays a pair of games in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week. The Cats visit Mountain View on Jan. 10 and host Palo Alto on Jan. 12 in a pair of 3:30 p.m. games.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 10, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.