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That is because East Montgomery’s Rosa Losa ran a clinic on the game of soccer, turning a surprising 2-1 deficit around into a 6-3 win. All she did was score all six goals for her team, turning the hope’s of an upset by the Bulldogs around into an easy YVC win.
“She is phenomenal — the best to ever play in this conference,” said Turner, who’s team stands at 2-8, 1-6. “She really is the most phenomenal soccer player I have ever seen. You can’t stop her, you can only container her.”
Losa put the guests on the board first five minutes in, getting the ball to banana around goalie Callie Kirsch.
It was tough for East to mount any other offense the rest of the half, as a stout defense for Thomasville kept the talented Losa in front of them.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs grabbed an equalizer in the 32nd minute when freshmen Alex Solis juked a defender and ripped a shot in the left corner of the goal, tying the score at 1-1.
Solis was at it again in the second half, this time scoring uncontested. Bethany Reid was fouled in the box, setting up the youngster for the free look at the goal that she pounded in the corner for her sixth goal of the year.
While one star was playing her last game on the pitch at Thomasville, another one was blossoming into the type of player her coach knew she could become.
“She [Solis] is going to be the next Rosa in our conference, and I told her that once her goals started to go, she would see the biggest difference in the world,” said Turner.
After Solis scored her two tallies, it was all Losa the rest of the way. East began to play the ball up to her on long passes, that she would run up on past the defense and firmly plant in between the posts.
She scored three in a row over a span of 10 minutes that pushed the game out to a 4-2 Eagle lead. Thomasville never laid down on the cause, though, rising up for a goal with 10:30 left in the game. Solis lifted a volley up the field that skidded off the wet grass up and over the defense. Paulina Burch was standing on the other side to finish off the play, making things closer than they appeared at 4-3.
Not bothered by the sudden challenge, East went to Losa a minute later to push the lead back out to two, and then she added one more in the 75th minute to pad the lead.
The first meeting between the two resulted in a 5-1 East win, so needless to say the THS coaching staff was pleased with the outcome.
“I think we are actually better than where we wanted to be,” said Turner. These girls, I just can’t say enough about them.”