SOCCER: Varsity girls to face Granite Bay

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(JOHNNY MULLIGAN/EYE OF THE TIGER)

JASON RUSSELL

The varsity girls soccer team is the last of Roseville High School’s four winter sports teams remaining in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs and will take on the Granite Bay Grizzlies, the number three seed, in the semi-finals today.

Last week in the quarterfinals, the girls beat the second-seeded Vacaville Bulldogs 1-0 with a game-winning free-kick from sophomore Kylie Granno.

The Grizzlies will head into today’s game with an overall record of 8-5-3. In the quarterfinals, they dominated Central Valley in a 4-0 game. So far in the playoffs, Granite Bay has scored seven goals and have not been scored on.

Roseville, on the other hand, has scored six goals and has given up two. These are two high octane offenses with stout defenses. Despite Granite Bay’s impressive defense during the playoffs, forward senior Allison Palmer is confident that the Tigers will be able to score.

“We do a really good job attacking down the line and whipping balls in negatively to score goals,” Palmer said. “Also I think that we’re a really strong overall team on offense and defense.”

Senior forward Jessica VanDerHaegen said that the Tigers plan to capitalize on their set play opportunities, like corner kicks and free-kicks, in order to score against the Grizzly defense. She feels that the girls will need to give it their all to earn the win tonight.

“I’m confident that we can win,” VanDerHaegen said. “I just think it depends on how well we play that day and how bad we want it. I think it could go either way on any given day.”

The game will be played this afternoon at Granite Bay High School at 3 p.m. Roseville has played all their games on the road during this playoff run while the Grizzlies have played every game at home.