Women’s soccer suffers loss in home opener
Lady Knights player Rebecca Garcia and Taft defender Sierra Sagasta go head-to-head during the last minutes of the game on Aug. 29. Photo credit: Celia Jimenez
September 6, 2014
The San Diego City College women’s soccer team started off their season on the wrong foot as they suffered their first defeat with a 0-4 score against Taft College on Aug. 29.
“It was our first game, we’re still working on kind of pulling some loose ends together, we have only four returners this year so we’re working with a whole new midfield and defense,” said Head Coach Andi Milburn.
Seventeen minutes into the first half, Taft’s midfielder, Celia Rangel, scored the first point of the game when she overrun the knight’s defense. Six minutes later, defender Breeze Moani Rivers scored the second goal for Taft on a head shot that was product of a right corner kick.
During the first half of the game, the Knights were trying to adapt to Taft’s offense, and at times struggled on neutralizing Taft’s players as they were leaving open spaces on the field for Taft’s midfielders to gain full control of the ball.
The first half ended with a score of 0-2 with the knights trying to retake control of the game while their head coach, gave strong suggestions to wait on the opponents and to not leave their formation.
Taft College managed to gain most of the balls by running faster than the Knights defenders, and two minutes after the second half started, Taft forward Monserrat Cruz scored the third goal on a long run across the midfield going head-to-head with the Knight’s goalie Leannette Pimentel leaving her with no option against the determinant shot.
Although the Knights tried to go forward with combination plays and long distance shots they didn’t manage to penetrate Taft’s defense. Midfielder Nora Perez put the final score of 0-4 in favor of Taft.
“We’re just trying to work the kicks out today, I scheduled a very strong team to open up with so we can really see what we need to work on, so we have an idea where we need to go now and we’re excited for our next couples of games next week,” said Milburn.
The next match for the Lady Knights is on Sept. 3rd, as they will be traveling up to Irvine to play against Irvine Valley College at 3 p.m.
