West Bay League - Menlo Knights v Notre Dame Tigers

It was a beautiful day for soccer at the Wunderlich Field in Atherton, CA. Both teams fielded competitive, high-level club players. The Menlo Knights came into this match as the 1st place team at (6-1-2 and (12-4-3) overall. They also have a guaranteed spot in the CCS tournament and were ranked as the 168th team in CA. Their opponent, the Notre Dame Tigers, who aren't playing in the postseason, played as if this was a win to advance to the tournament match. They came out with the intention of getting a "W" and putting on a show for the crowd.   Both sides played quality soccer and moved the ball around with multiple players making one- or two-touch combinations up and down the pitch. One of the players who stood out for the Knights was [player_tooltip player_id='202653' first='Everleigh' last='Porter'] (2028). She has a high soccer IQ and makes quick decisions of whether to hold for possession, distribute, or take on a player 1v1. I saw all of this and also some precise one-touch passes to diagonal and overlapping runners. She is definitely a key player in the Menlo offense this year. Roya  Rezaee (2025) had a great game as she scored 2 goals to secure the win.  The second goal might have been a questionable call, but the referee seemed to have made the right decision.    On the defensive side, GK [player_tooltip player_id='275082' first='Bianca' last='Putanec'] (2026) showed her shot-stopping skills and kept a few goals off the board. She makes good decisions and positions herself in attacking lanes to cut off attacking runs down the touchline and on 1v1's. She is primarily responsible for the Knights 9 clean sheets on the season.  Also, [player_tooltip player_id='280246' first='Addison' last='“Addi” Bruni'] (2028) helped to solidify the Menlo Defense. She made it difficult for her opponents to slip through the defensive three and pushed up on a few transitional runs.   The standouts for the Tigers were Isabella “Bella” Svanberg, Allie Dorn, Penelope Hickson, and Skylar Loo. Svanberg scored a quick goal when a ball from just past the midfield was sent to Dorn, who one-touched it to Svanberg. In a blink of an eye, Bella barely got it past the goalkeeper as it deflected off her fingertips. Penelope played tough on the offensive and defensive ends. Loo made some really good saves and more than likely kept this a close match instead of having the Knights run away with this match    Had a great game as she scored 2 goals to secure the win. The second goal might have been a questionable call, but the referee seemed to have made the right decision. She was active in the middle of the field, making combination passes and during recovery. Her footwork skills are upper level as she weaved through the defenses on multiple occasions. She finds open spots in the defense and times her runs well. She plays club soccer for Bay Area Surf.     She has a high soccer IQ and makes quick decisions of whether to hold for possession, distribute, or take on a player 1v1. I saw all of this and also some precise one-touch passes to diagonal and overlapping runners. She is definitely a key player in the Menlo offense this year. Everleigh is also a member of the U.S. Futsal U16 National Team. I can see how she incorporates the quick passes from futsal into her games on the pitch. Her experience on that stage will have a positive impact on her soccer journey. She plays club soccer for Bay Area Surf ECNL.     Showed her shot-stopping skills and kept a few goals off the board. She makes good decisions and positions herself in attacking lanes to cut off attacking runs down the touchline and on 1v1s. She is primarily responsible for the Knights 9 clean sheets on the season. Bianca also showed quick reflexes when making saves from point-blank range. Her ability to knock the ball out of the air in a crowded penalty area shows her courage and determination. She plays club soccer for MVLA Soccer Club.     Helped to solidify the Menlo Defense. She made it difficult for her opponents to slip through the defensive three and pushed up on a few transitional runs. She made hard challenges on defense and made some good passing combinations to midfielders and forwards. She seemed to have a sense of the attacking lanes and made adjustments to step in or push the offense towards the channels. She plays club soccer for MVLA Soccer Club.     Got an assist with a one-touch pass to Svanberg, who, in a blink of an eye, got it past the goalkeeper as it deflected off her fingertips. Allie also provided other opportunities for her team to add more points on the board. Her calculative passes in the attacking third gave runners quality shots on goal. Unfortunately, the Menlo GK made multiple saves to keep the goal count at one. She plays club soccer at Bay Area Surf.     Received a quick two touch pass combo before taking a shot on a bounce and slipping it past the goalkeeper. Her quick reaction to shooting it off the bounce was the difference in getting their only goal. Isabella did a good job of finding open players as she distributed the ball to the channels and to overlapping players. She seemed calm in a relatively intense match as both teams didn't seem to let up. She plays club soccer for Belmont United.     Made some really good saves and more than likely kept this a close match instead of having the Knights run away with this match. She did a great job in punching out crosses in the penalty area and made a few diving saves. One of her strengths is not backing down when taking on players in 1v1 runs in the goal box. She also seemed calm, even as the Knights stepped up their attack in the second half.     Played tough on the offensive and defensive ends. She was not afraid to make hard challenges and pushed the ball up the line during counterattacks. Her ability to get into the attacking lanes prevented the Menlo attack from getting more goals, even if it meant getting clipped in the process. She showed strength and determination as she always got up and made some recoveries. She plays club soccer for JSC Juventus Academy Silicon Valley.    <a href="https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891633819205157229">https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891633819205157229</a>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891704639059263801 </div></figure>   <a href="https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891707865959657586">https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891707865959657586</a>   <a href="https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891618312947167289">https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891618312947167289</a>   <a href="https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891690585385275720">https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1891690585385275720</a>   <a href="https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1892981725791179019">https://twitter.com/BayAreaSocScout/status/1892981725791179019</a>

It was a beautiful day for soccer at the Wunderlich Field in Atherton, CA. Both teams fielded competitive, high-level club players. The Menlo Knights came into this match as the 1st place team at (6-1-2 and (12-4-3) overall. They also have a guaranteed spot in the CCS tournament and were ranked as the 168th team in CA. Their opponent, the Notre Dame Tigers, who aren't playing in the postseason, played as if this was a win to advance to the tournament match. They came out with the intention of getting a "W" and putting on a show for the crowd.