It was an exciting finale weekend of the USL W League NorCal season as the three teams that dominated the league, San Francisco Glens, Oakland Soul, and California Storm all qualified for the W League postseason.
Oakland Soul’s dramatic comeback against SF Glens
On a day when the Oakland Soul’s leading goal scorers were unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, Manaka Hayashi scored a hat trick to propel the club to a 3-1 win over the San Francisco Glens on a hot Sunday afternoon at Merritt College.
The victory clinched a playoff berth against a familiar opponent. The Soul will play the Glens again in the first round of the playoffs on Friday afternoon at 12:30 pm at Skyline College.
After the game, Soul Head Coach Jessica Clinton talked about how her club was able to overcome the absence of key players including Miranda Nild and Sam Tran.
“Not having players available today is tough but we’ve spoken about the depth of our group from the very beginning and the players we have that can step up,” Clinton said. “And this was a moment where a group was able to do that and it was beautiful.”
Hayashi came on as a substitute at halftime. She was a part of Japan’s U-20 FIFA World Cup team in 2022 and is planning to enroll at Santa Clara University in January.
“Oh my goodness, she’s so good,” Clinton said. “Mana is unbelievable. I forget that she’s a 2024, so she’s entering in college in 2024. Mana is five steps ahead of everybody else. I would love to keep Mana forever and I would love to have a hundred Manas. She’s a game changer.”
Hayashi said that she noticed some opportunities for her to pursue when she got into the match.
“When I was watching the game. I was thinking there’s time in the middle. So, when I get the ball I can dribble,” Hayashi said. “[The Glens] are so technically [skilled] and they’re so fast and strong. And they’re so basically good. But I was thinking I had to play more smart and then simple. Because I’m not a tall player.”
Glens Rule in the First Half
The Glens had little to play for except the honor of completing the regular season undefeated. Having already clinched first place in the W-Leage NorCal Conference, San Francisco rested several of their starters, including USWNT U-20 players Elise Evans and Jasmine Aikey. Even still, they dominated the first half from the opening whistle, while the Soul was conservative in bringing players forward.
The Soul were lucky to avoid disaster in the 8th minute, when Nádia Gomes made a run down the left side. Gomes crossed the ball to Peyton Marcisz. Her shot was saved by Oakland goalkeeper Layla Armas, but the rebound bounced off the post and into the path of Gomes, whose shot hit the underside of the bar, bounced near the goal line, and was eventually cleared away.
The visitors finally broke through in the 21st minute when Elizabeth Ennis’s through ball from the back found Gomes with only one defender to beat. Gomes dribbled into the penalty area and slipped a shot past Armas at the near post. Ennis was a consistently dangerous player throughout the first half.
Jessie Halladay also had a chance for the Glens in the 24th minute, but her shot was right at Armas.
Henar Urteaga anchored the Oakland defense, especially in the first half, helping to limit the division’s highest scoring team to a single goal.
“I don’t know what else to say about Henar except for her mentality,” Clinton said. What you see on game day is what you see in training, Henar is always go. Even if she had a tough work week because her work hours were so long she’s like, I can push.”
Second Half Turnaround
Four minutes into the second half, the game was transformed. The Glens’ Elise Evans cleared the ball from the penalty area. Hayashi grabbed the loose ball and blasted a shot that beat goalkeeper Bianca Dominguez at the near post. This meant that the Soul would qualify for the playoffs as long as they kept the Glens off the scoreboard for the remainder of the match.
But The Soul kept coming. Their second goal also came on a shot from Hayashi from long range in the 64th minute; this time it hit the underside of the crossbar at the far post and bounced off Dominguez as it made its way into the net.
Hayashi completed the hat trick in the 82nd minute. Eden Olson dished it off to Hayashi just to the right of the six-yard box. Dominguez got a hand on her shot, but it slowly made its way into the net.
“Our second half group changed the game,” Clinton said. “The first half group were able to see what they were putting out there and we kind of had to weather the storm. And going down. This group hates to be down. It’s just a matter of how we’re going to be able to climb back, but I’m so happy for the players.”
California Storm advance to postseason
Earlier on Sunday, first-half goals from Camryn Lancaster and Brenda Uribe gave the California Storm a 2-0 win over Stockton Cargo 2-0 to advance to the W League postseason. The Storm’s third-place finish and superior point-per-game average allowed them to claim the half-playoff spot available between the third-place NorCal team and the second-place Northwest team, United PDX.
The Storm also earned the right to host first-place Northwest side Oly Town FC in the Conference Semifinals on Friday, July 7, at 7 pm at Davis Legacy Field.
It was only fitting that the California Storm earned a postseason spot. The Glens, Soul, and Storm battled it out all season as the three superior teams in the NorCal division and were separated by only the smallest of margins all campaign.
The winner of the Oly Town and California Storm playoff game will play the winner of the Glens vs. Soul game next weekend.
(Douglas Zimmerman contributed to this post)
