Oak Ridge tops Folsom, 1-0, to advance to playoffs

A play-in soccer game Thursday at Oak Ridge to see which team qualifies for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs pitted two teams, the Trojans and the Folsom Bulldogs, against each other who combined for an overall record of 3-23-7 and a Sierra Foothill League record of 1-21-6. That's not to say, of course, that Oak Ridge's and Folsom's girls' soccer teams are not good; they do, however, play in the toughest soccer league in the area. In any other league, they're probably .500 teams. The teams tied 1-1 twice this season, the second time just three days ago, so one had to figure this would be a close game, as the Trojans entered the game with a 2-12-3 mark, while the Bulldogs were 1-12-4. The Trojans won the game, 1-0, with a goal from Kennedy Mulgannon, as she put a ball through Folsom keeper Grace Wekanda's hands and legs with about 16 ½ minutes to play in the game. "I'm really proud of our team," Oak Ridge coach Bryan Holland said. "I give Folsom a lot of credit. In a game like this, we knew it would come to a goal like that. I'm really happy to get it done." "We're a possession attacking based team and we're young, so getting the girls to feel comfortable and be decisive to get shots off because we want all that possession to be fruitful to where we can create chances to score goals." Folsom played one of its better games of the season, but still lost their seventh 1-0 game of the season and its 10th one-goal game. In fact, only two of their 12 losses came by more than one goal, as they lost 5-2 to Rocklin and 3-0 to Del Oro. "I thought we played one of our better games," Folsom coach Rick Carrigan said. "We were patient and we maintained possession a lot more than we had. When you play against the Rocklin's and the Del Oro's, they come at you and put you under pressure, but we were finally calm under that pressure tonight. Speed of play is something you've got to get used to. It's sad that we don't have much of a preseason and that we have to jump right into league because it takes a few games to get going." The injury-riddled Bulldogs had to ask defender, Wekanda, to play goal after their starting goalie suffered a season-ending injury, and Wekanda accepted the role even though she only played the position very briefly much earlier in her playing career. "The fact that she jumped in there and allowed only one goal a game in the SFL, that's pretty good. We're also attacking with a bunch of freshmen who are playing against juniors and seniors. They need experience and maturity." Oak Ridge advances to the first round of the playoffs where they will play top-seeded Gregori on Friday.