The Knights now stand at 5-9-2 (2-3 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference South) after losing to conference rivals, the Miramar College Jets, at home on Oct. 20. In an exciting game, where the visiting team hit the crossbar and the Knights hit the post, it was a refereeing error that ultimately separated the teams.

Miramar dominated the first half, as the City players tried to settle into the game. In the 57th minute, Maria Mendez opened the scoring for the Jets through a defensive mistake that left teammate Veronika Castillo far from her goal line.

This focused and spurred the Knights into action. Six minutes later, the linesman flagged City College’s , Sylvia Rojas’ run as offside, in a passage of play that resulted with her putting the ball in the back of the Jets’ net. But the team did not let that dampen their determination. Within another two minutes, the teams were level when the Knights’ leading goal scorer Melissa Valadez’ 35-yard shot hit it’s target.

With only 14 minutes left in the game, the referee pointed to the penalty spot after the Knights Paulina Castro took Maria Mendez down in the box. Kathleen McCarthy didn’t squander the opportunity to put the Jets back in the lead, a lead defended to the end of the game despite several attempts by the Knights that tested the Jet’s keeper’s ability.

According to the Knights’ head coach, Guillermo Medina, “We were in the game. It was a game we could have won. We made an elementary mistake on the first goal and that has been the story of our season.”

Echoing that feeling, Assistant Coach Devon Roncoroni said, “We’ve come off four or five losses now that are undeserved. And it’s hard because they [the team] get frustrated and they get in a slump. But I mean we can’t blame the refs, we can’t blame the other team. We weren’t putting away goals”

The positive attitude instilled this year under Coach Medina was also apparent. Roncoroni believes the team’s goal of winning eight matches this season is still very doable. With five wins so far and six games left in the season, Sarah Marshall, a sophomore nursing student and Knight said, “We can do it and the girls know we can do it.

“Last year, I feel like the girls would give up and this year as you can tell in the second half, I don’t think anyone gave up. We were 100 percent going for all the balls that we could and there’s a different intensity compared to last year.”

Marshall attributes the positive attitude to Medina. “His style, it took a little bit to get used to because he is very intense, but it’s a good intense. His intense pushes you further than you expected yourself to go. Like, he has been pushing me in ways that I didn’t even know that I could play. And I think he is doing that to a lot of the girls and we are seeing some good results,” according to Marshall.

The next home game for the Knights is against Grossmont College, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. See the team’s full schedule at http://www.sdcity.edu/CampusLife/Athletics/SoccerW/Schedule