Bears tighten things up, surge past Turlock soccer

Merced’s Carris Burges and Anisa Saechao comprise perhaps the best offensive tandem in the Central California Conference. But even they need help.

A deep defensive posture by visiting Turlock opened a rift between the Bears’ strikers and their midfield. The gap was as wide as 20 yards at times in the opening half on Thursday afternoon, leaving Burges and Saechao to take on four Bulldogs defenders by themselves.

Merced coach Megan Atoigue dedicated much of her halftime speech to rectifying the situation. The Bears responded, closing the gap and adding much-needed support to the attack. It helped produce two goals after intermission as Merced cruised to a 3-0 victory and sole possession of first place after the league’s opening week.

“Turlock defense was just sitting really deep, so our strikers were pushing up to pressure them, but then our midfield was hanging too far back,” Atoigue said. “We told them to play the ball up to Carris and for her to hold it and wait for the support to catch up.

“One of our defenders has to sit out until Tuesday, so we had a number of girls playing out of position. I think that contributed to some of the confusion also.”

Even with the slight disconnect, Merced (7-3-1, 2-0 CCC) dominated the opening 40 minutes and took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Burges put the Bears in front in the 14th minute, chasing down an Alyssa Centero throw in on the left side of the 18. The sophomore showed some excellent composure after her path to the goal appeared to be cut off by the Turlock (1-4, 1-1 CCC) defense.

Burges stutter-stepped, looking her defender off, then exploded toward the touch line. She chipped a left-footed shot over the Turlock keeper to make it 1-0.

Merced outshot Turlock 6-2 in the opening half, putting five of them on Jayden Tubbs in net, but couldn’t expand the lead.

“We were definitely worried that we didn’t open up the game in the first half when we had a chance,” Burges said. “Turlock is also tough competition. They won league last year, and you know 1-0 is not usually going to be enough to beat them.”

It would have been on Thursday.

The center defense pairing of Bailey Lawry and Elizabeth Mendoza kept everything organized in the back and didn’t allow Turlock’s speed behind them. It made for a comfortable afternoon for Bears goalkeeper Evelyn Garcia, who earned the shutout with one save.

Merced put the game out of reach in the 64th minute. Brianna Mejia drilled a cross to the top of the Bulldogs’ 18-yard box from the right wing. Midfielder Jetta Saeteurn flicked it past the defense and an unmarked Lizette Montero sprinted onto the ball and buried it.

Burges finished the scoring with her second goal of the match six minutes later.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Bears tighten things up, surge past Turlock soccer."