Pust lifts Golden Valley soccer past Buhach

Megan Pust is making up for lost time.

Coming from the area’s first family of track and field, Pust was nudged in that direction as a freshman. It was a tough season as the Golden Valley striker longed to be on the soccer pitch.

Pust got to choose this season and is riding the passion she bottled up for a year, racking up a team-high eight goals in the Cougars’ first seven games. She added to that total on Thursday afternoon, using her pace and strength to set up the first goal and convert a pair of breakaways in a 3-1 victory over Buhach Colony at Veterans Stadium.

“I’m just really happy to be out here,” Pust said. “I missed soccer a lot last year and just want to make the most of my first year on varsity.

“Coming into this one, I was pretty nervous. We knew Buhach was one of the teams to beat, so I tried to be very serious during warmups and get my teammates to be serious. It wasn’t our best game, but we made some plays when we had to.”

Pust was at the heart of most of those, including the opening tally just 50 seconds into the game.

The sophomore chased down a long ball in the left corner of the Buhach Colony 18-yard box and started dribbling back toward the top of the box. She cut back past her defender with a cheeky heel drag and threaded a pass that Amenah Munoz one-timed home.

Cougars coach Lance Eber thought the quick goal might be the start of a big afternoon, but his squad seemed to relax after grabbing the early lead. Despite the early hole and a loss in Tuesday’s Central California Conference opener, the Thunder (6-4, 0-2 CCC) had no more sense of urgency.

Both teams possessed the ball and strung together passes at midfield, but seemed reluctant to pull the trigger in the attacking third. As a result, neither keeper was tested until Pust made something happen in the 30th minute.

She anticipated an ill-advised back pass at midfield, stole the ball and sprinted past a flat-footed BC back line. The Thunder defense did a nice job recovering, blocking Pust’s shot attempt as she cut back inside. Pust stayed with the play in the ensuing scrum, however, and toed the ball across the line to send GV (6-2, 2-0 CCC) into halftime up 2-0.

“We didn’t play with the same pattern as we did on Tuesday,” Eber said. “We warmed up well, and then we scored the early goal. I thought we were really going to come after them. We just weren’t real aggressive after that. My back line was really good, though, so I was was pretty confident after the second goal.”

GV’s defensive trio did make life easy for goalkeeper Marina Arroyo (five saves), but a bad foul by the midfield helped get the Thunder back into the game 14 minutes into the second half.

Liliana Bracamontes put a high free kick on frame from 25 yards out, forcing a leaping save from Arroyo. She could only glance the ball off of the crossbar, however, and it caromed to the feet of McKenzie Kirn for an easy tap in.

Pust stole the momentum right back a minute later, chasing down Ariana Severo’s pass and slotting home her second into the bottom right corner.

“I don’t know what we need to do to get these girls motivated, but it was like we were going through the motions today,” BC coach Zach Phonesavanh said. “We’re right back into the game with plenty of time, and then give the goal back right away. That’s a momentum killer.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 7:17 AM with the headline "Pust lifts Golden Valley soccer past Buhach."