The No. 25 UCSD women’s soccer team faced an opponent on Nov. 1 at RIMAC Field that was handicapped by four absent starters and a goalie who is usually a forward. The 4-0 win over Cal State San Bernardino wrapped up the Tritons’ regular season with a 14-3-1 overall record and a 10-3-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association record that earned them a fifth-consecutive CCAA South Division title.
“It feels amazing [to win the South title],” sophomore midfielder Megan Dickey said. “[UCSD] has done it five years in a row, and we kinda came into the season not knowing what to expect because we have so many young players, but the good things happen to us.”
Sophomore forward Kelly Cochran kicked in two goals in the game, while Dickey and freshman midfielder Rachel Lindenfeld each added a goal.
The Tritons faced a depleted Cal State San Bernardino (8-9-2, 6-5-2 CCAA) because the Coyotes received five red cards in their previous match. The red-hot Tritons were coming off a huge 6-1 victory over Cal State Bakersfield to clinch a spot in the CCAA Championships.
With this win, UCSD will be the top seed in the South and will play Cal State Dominguez Hills (12-5-3, 8-3-3 CCAA) on its home field in the CCAA semifinal match Nov. 5 in Carson, Calif. If the Tritons win, they will advance to the finals on Nov. 7.
Cochran, who is the Tritons’ leading scorer, recorded the first goal of the match in the third minute off a penalty kick after a Coyote player knocked sophomore Kathy Sepulveda to the ground. Cochran easily slipped the ball into the bottom left corner for a 1-0 lead. The Tritons struck again in the 25th minute when freshman midfielder Ali Lai dribbled past two Coyote players to feed the ball to a rushing Dickey on her right. Dickey unleashed a shot that went right through the hands of Cal State San Bernardino goalie Lisa Fryer, who usually plays the forward position. According to Dickey, it was a mixed blessing to play a deficient Cal State San Bernardino team.
“It sometimes makes it harder, though, to know that you have someone that’s not very good, because it’s a little bit more pressure,” she said.
Although the final score says otherwise, it was a much more evenly played second half between the two teams, with the Coyotes stepping up and adding more pressure while the Tritons struggled to regain control of the match.
“It [was] a hard game to play,” UCSD head coach Brian McManus said. “[UCSD] is thinking about the conference playoffs. [The Coyotes] had nothing to lose and the girls were all looking ahead to Friday and the weekend … but they did what they had to do. It wasn’t a good game, it wasn’t a pretty game. They did what they had to do to get through it, and that was it.”
Despite losing its momentum, UCSD kept Cal State San Bernardino scoreless in the second half with senior goalie Jamie Lautenschleger logging four saves. In the last 10 minutes, the Tritons regained their composure and added two more insurance goals. Cochran netted her second goal of the game after Coyote defender Amy Coffman mishandled the ball, leaving it loose for Cochran. The Triton forward took advantage of the turnover and launched the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. Finally, with less than a minute left, senior midfielder Jaclyn Shaffer launched the ball high in the air from the Triton defensive zone. It dropped right in front of Lindenfeld and two Coyote defenders. Lindenfeld outran her opponents to send the ball over goalie Amanda Murchey, who started the game as a midfielder and came in with five minutes remaining to replace Fryer. The Triton win is Lautenschleger’s ninth shutout of the season, leading all CCAA goalies.
Unfortunately, UCSD may play without three starters against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Nov. 5. Junior defender Heather Szafraniec and sophomore midfielder Heather Sugg both injured their ankles again, according to McManus. Sepulveda also came off the field in the second half after sustaining a head injury. All three are questionable for the semifinal game, but McManus hopes to have them ready to play against a tough Toro squad, which shut out the Tritons, 1-0, on Oct. 23. UCSD knows it has a tough task ahead, playing on Cal State Dominguez Hills’ home field.
“They like to come out and run at you, and run at you,” McManus said. “We are going to try and contain them the first half and just see if we can work our way in the game and play our way in, see if we can sneak something.”
While the younger, more inexperienced Tritons have to face a seasoned Toro team, they are ready for a challenge.
“They’re a good team and I give them a lot of credit,” Dickey said. “They played really well throughout the season, and we didn’t play very well the last time we played them. But if we just go in and play, we’ll be fine.
“We just need to go in there and basically, we need to win the championship for a spot in [NCAA] Regionals. I think for our freshmen, this will be good for them, and they’ll learn a lot from this experience.”
