Communication. That was the key word that came up as the Madera Coyotes girls soccer team evaluated its 6-1 win against Sunnyside-Fresno
The Coyotes, who gave up a goal in the first half, were not pleased with their communication in the first half of Thursday’s non-conference match.
Jazzell Ruiz, who recorded a hat trick to lead the Coyotes in the win, said her team showed improvements later in the game after failing to communicate in the first half.
“I feel when I talk on the field, it helps everybody see the field more,” Ruiz said.
The hat-trick scorer also said the Coyotes have talked about focusing on their own game instead of looking at the opponent’s level.
“I feel like we mostly reflect off the other team,” Ruiz said. “The way they play is the way we end up playing, which is one of our biggest flaws.”
Adriana Dana, Anissa Garcia and Atiana Pinon added the other three goals for the home team. The Coyotes appeared to have another goal in the final minutes, but the referee called a hand-ball and disallowed what would have been the seventh score.
Madera head coach Cynthia Moreno was frustrated with her team’s first half performance despite the lead they held going into the break.
“We started off slow,” Moreno said. “We were too relaxed on the ball. The intensity wasn’t as high as we would like.”
The Coyotes found another gear after a spirited discussion at halftime.
“We reminded the girls that they need to keep doing what we work on,” Moreno said. “Just because a team is not at the level of others, doesn’t mean we drop down. We have to be consistent. So that’s what we talked about at halftime.”
Moreno said she is happy with the progress the team is making so far in the early season.
“We’re changing things up from game to game, just plugging different players in to see what works, what doesn’t,” she said. “There is improvement for sure.”