The Buchanan girls’ soccer team got their offense rolling this week, resulting in a wild win over Clovis North on Tuesday, followed by a dominant shutout of Clovis East Thursday.
The Bears scored five goals in each game, and they needed every one of them in their 5-4 victory over Clovis North. Buchanan entered Tuesday’s match as the No. 2 team in the Central Section according to MaxPreps, behind No. 1 Clovis North.
Clovis North struck first with a goal from senior Paige Smith. Her teammate, junior Braedyn Kincade, headed home another goal on a free kick in the 32nd minute.
Clovis North, which came into its battle with Buchanan on its own offensive hot streak, having scored 28 goals in its previous four TRAC games, raced to a 2-0 lead.
But Buchanan hinted at what was to follow in the second half. After applying pressure early in the match, Buchanan broke through; Daisy Torres scored a late-first half goal to cut Clovis North’s lead, 2-1, at halftime.
In the 47th minute, UC Irvine-bound senior Alyssa Wheeler extended the Bronco lead to 3-1 with a long strike from well outside the box that found the net.
Buchanan head coach Jasara Gillette Myles said the Bears struggled to dig out of large deficits last year, but the lessons learned from the Central Section championship loss at Clovis North prepared them this time around.
“That’s something they have been working on, and I think in their hearts, they always believed they could,” Gillette Myles said. “When the [3-1 deficit] happened, that was the wake-up for us. It turned on a fire in them.”
Less than 30 seconds after Buchanan kicked off the ball after Wheeler’s goal, Fresno State-bound senior Ciara Wilson scored for the Bears.
Three minutes later, Torres scored again on a penalty kick to tie the game at 3.
Logan Nidy and Makayla Garza scored two more goals for Buchanan, which turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead in the span of just over 20 minutes.
“We definitely knew we were able to compete with [Clovis North],” Wilson said. “We work hard together. We knew we wanted to win, and we are capable of it. It definitely shows how powerful we are and how much we love each other.”
The five goals surrendered by Clovis North were more than what the Broncos gave up through 10 games of TRAC play last season.
Clovis North freshman Rebhia Mansour scored a left-footed shot for a goal, but the Broncos (15-2, 5-1 TRAC) ultimately dropped their first league game of the season.
Buchanan (12-2, 5-0 TRAC) defeated Clovis East two days later, 5-0. Wilson and Nidy each scored twice, and Torres chipped in another goal as well.
“I think between both teams,” Gillette Myles said of Buchanan and Clovis North, “you have some of the top talent in the Valley.”