You never want to call a game a must-win when it’s the second game of a long season—but this one had the feeling of a must-win, as Cabrillo and Millikan faced off in a pre-Winter break game that had playoff implications all over it.  After all, last year Cabrillo finished third in the league for the first time in school history, while Millikan missed out on the playoffs.  On Thursday, history reversed itself as a hungry Millikan team caught the Jags off guard, winning 4-0.

The first two goals came quickly, and with more ease for Millikan than you might expect, given that Cabrillo had the returning Moore League goalkeeper of the year in the net.  Slightly over a minute into the game, Samantha Smith struck a bouncer that went right by Jags keeper Leslie Navarro; ten minutes later, Alex Palomino put one between Navarro’s legs.  Cabrillo coach Jorge Polanco switched goalies at halftime, and was clearly exasperated after the match by the errors.

“Those put us in a big hole,” he said.  “If they don’t get those, it would have been something else.”

The Rams scored again, on a PK in the 50th minute (Lexi Braner scored it), and on a nice rebound effort by the spectacular sophomore Palomino.  Millikan coach Dave Christensen said his team executed their game plan well.  “We wanted to play hard in the first ten minutes,” he said, noting that early goals had robbed Cabrillo’s momentum in their first loss of the season, against Lakewood.

The Rams improve to 2-0 in league, and 3-3-1 overall.  They’re tied for the Moore League lead going into the break, which Christensen called a “nice Christmas gift.”  The Jags take a lump of coal into the break, with a disappointing 0-2 start and Wilson and Poly up next.  “It adds pressure,” says Polanco.  “We have to get some points.”