Stephanie Lee and Ayla Blanford scored second half goals as the Piedmont High School girls soccer team defeated Encinal at Witter Field on Jan. 28, 2-0.
The Highlanders are now 7-4-2 on the season, 2-2-1 in West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division play. The Jets are now 2-9, 0-5.
Encinal did a good job in the first half, keeping the match scoreless. Then, Piedmont struck in the 46th minute when Arden Sorensen-Wald sent a corner kick that Lee was able to send into the net.
In the 60th minute, Miranda Liu set up Blanford for the second goal.
“She had time and space to turn it and played me a short through ball,” Blanford said of Liu. “It was just a good finish, I guess.”
The Highlanders made some adjustments but also improved their mental game in the second half.
“They had a really deep block which is something we haven’t really seen recently,” Blanford said. “We didn’t adapt well to that. I feel in the second half we got it more together and realized [how to] find backspace and … beat the low block to get some goals.”
Piedmont’s Olivia Nealon (18) chases Encinal’s Emma Hernandez (14). 
Piedmont’s Makenna Small (13) fights off Encinal’s Nayel Muller (16) during the second half of the Highlanders 2-0 victory.
Piedmont next hosts Berkeley on Jan. 30. The teams tied 2-2 at Berkeley on Jan. 8.
The Highlanders then host Castro Valley on Feb. 4.