Indians defeat Crusaders

Originally Published: Jan 16, 2001

There was nothing East Bay girls soccer coach Claudine Sosa could do to avoid it.

She tried to tell her team no, she even tried to tried to run, but it didn't matter. Sosa got the water bucket.

Sosa was doused by her East Bay players following an important 2-1 win against Tampa Catholic in district play Tuesday night. With the win, East Bay (10-3-2, 9-0-1 District) moves one step closer to locking up the No. 1 seed for the Class 2A-District 10 tournament, which begins the week of Jan. 29.

``This is a big win for district seedings as well as Western Conference,'' Sosa said. ``It was a very physical game, but they fought through it. I'm very proud of them today.''

Forward Lisa Verbosky scored the game-winning goal for East Bay in the 54th minute. Alyse Magliaro crossed the ball from the right side to midfielder Ana Hernandez. Hernandez got off a shot that was deflected by Verbosky, directing it into the Tampa Catholic net.

The East Bay attack dominated Tampa Catholic (12-4-3, 7-1-1), outshooting the Crusaders 22-3. Magliaro scored the game's first goal and hit the crossbar two other times.

Tampa Catholic tied the game at one in the first half when Chrissy Cuppert put away Julisse Maya's free kick in the 30th minute. But it was not enough for the Crusaders, who had to finish the game a player down after Natalie Madero was issued a red card for unsportsmanlike conduct midway through the second half.

``We didn't show up to play,'' Tampa Catholic coach Rori Rushing-Braum said. ``East Bay did a great job. They beat us to every single 50-50 ball. There are so many breakdowns right now.''