The Santa Teresa girls soccer team may have been bloodied by the events of last week, but it was not knocked out.
Saturday the No. 1 seeded Saints came back swinging and scored an inspiring 2-0 victory against Alisal (13-3-1) in a Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinal game at Valley Christian.
Fittingly, Kaylie McGrady -- the older sister of suspended Saint star Tegan McGrady -- scored the Saints' second goal on a day the sisters' relatives wore "Let Tegan Play" shirts.
Tegan McGrady was suspended for the playoffs last week after she played in two games at a U.S. national-team camp that were not approved by the California Interscholastic Federation.
"It felt good," Kaylie McGrady said of her goal. "It was a relief that, as a team, we could still do it, even without one of our best players."
Tegan was on the Saints' bench Saturday, rooting on her sister and her teammates.
"It was good," Kaylie said. "It was like she wasn't even suspended. She was out there supporting us, even though she couldn't play. She was still there encouraging us to do our best."
Santa Teresa now advances to the semifinals Wednesday where it will meet Mountain View.
The rules-infraction not only cost Santa Teresa its standout in Tegan McGrady, but it had to forfeit the four games she played in when she returned from the camp in Carson -- with those four losses handing Leland the league championship.
Saturday the Saints (10-6-2) started the healing in the 51st minute, beginning with Andrea Fernandez's shot from the right side into the left corner of the goal.
"At first I wasn't going to take the shot because it was at an awkward angle," Fernandez said. "But then I just decided to take it because I felt like if we didn't score pretty soon, we were going to be in deep trouble."
Later in the second half, Kaylie McGrady followed up a Fernandez shot off the post with an easy goal from point-blank range to all but clinch the victory for the Saints.
"I thought Andrea was either going to cross it or shoot it like she had last time," Kaylie said. "It hit off the post and came right to me and I was like 'Oh, here's my chance.' So I just took a shot and it went in. It happened pretty fast."
Santa Teresa dominated the first 50-plus minutes, but with nothing to show for it.
"I just told the girls to be patient and the opportunity will come," Saints coach Richard Spencer said.
Said Spencer regarding the suspension and forfeits: "It's been hard. It's an unfortunate situation. It was actually nice to get a game played (after the suspension). They did a good job."
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John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com.
