The UCSD women’s soccer team took on California State University Dominguez Hills on Sept. 21 at Triton Soccer Stadium for its first home game of the season.
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On Sept. 22, 2000, the UCSD women’s soccer team played against Dominguez Hills and lost 3-1. The loss was the Tritons’ last of the season as they went on to win 22 straight games and the Division II national championship.
Almost exactly a year later, the Tritons squared off against the Toros just a few days after their first loss of this season against San Francisco State and pulled off a convincing 3-0 victory against a strong Dominguez Hills team.
“”After getting beat last year at their place, it feels good to do it to them this year,”” said Triton head coach Brian McManus.
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Playing in their first home game, the Tritons were forced to make do without senior defender Julia Cuder, who was ill and unable to play.
Cuder’s absence forced McManus to move several players out of their normal spots to fill her position. However, the Tritons adjusted nicely and played excellent defense against the Toros.
Neither team scored in the first half, though they both had excellent opportunities.
Aided by their superior passing skills, the Tritons controlled the ball for most of the first half and penetrated deep into Toro territory but were unable to take advantage.
With 18:15 left in the first half, sophomore Kristin Jones made a beautiful pass to senior Erika Alfredson, who headed the ball toward the net. The ball appeared to pass the goal line before Toro goalie Heather Williams stopped it but the referees ruled it a save.
Dominguez Hills had several opportunities as well. Toro Tanya Wilson had a breakaway run on the outside but was unable to do anything with it. About a minute later, Wilson had another opportunity to score off a cross pass but was stopped by Triton goalie Kami Poma.
In the first half, the Tritons appeared to have trouble with the very physical Dominguez Hills team.
“”Dominguez is always a very physical team,”” McManus said. “”They always get under your feet and we didn’t adjust at first.””
However, the second half was another story when the Tritons responded to the Toros’ use of force with a little physical play of their own.
“”The players made some adjustments and took it to [the Toros] the second half,”” McManus said. “”We adjusted and starting doing it to them. We said we can do that as well, and threw in some slide tackles.””
The Tritons came up with three goals in the second half, all courtesy of Triton sophomore midfielder Megan Mendoza.
Her first goal came 13:22 into to the second half as a header off of a corner kick by sophomore Christine Wensel. Ten minutes later, her second goal came off a cross pass from Jones, and her last one came with three minutes left in the game off an assist from senior Elizabeth Hughes.
“”Megan had a great game,”” McManus said. “”She scored a hat trick and missed a penalty kick so she could have had four goals.””
McManus said his team was not used to the physical play that the Toros brought with them.
“”When it gets down to it, we can [play physically],”” he said. “”We’d rather not, we’d rather play soccer, but some days you have to just kick in and fight. If you’re a good team, you end up finding ways of winning.””
Practically the only category the Tritons don’t lead the league in is fouls committed, in which they are last in the league. According to McManus, a large majority of the other teams have almost twice as many fouls as UCSD, some well over twice as many. In Friday’s game, the Tritons committed three fouls while the Toros racked up 14.
With the victory the Tritons improved to 5-1 in league and 7-1 overall. The Tritons also maintained their position atop the South Division of the CCAA, though McManus was careful not to get overconfident.
“”There’s no one running away with the conference,”” he said. “”Our conference is the best conference in Division II by far. Any team that goes from [the CCAA] to the Final Four has a chance because they’ve been playing against such strong competition here.””
The Tritons will next take on UC Davis at Triton Soccer Stadium on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.
