After starting the season 10-0-1, an onslaught of injuries
blindsided the UCSD women’s soccer team, and the Tritons were never able to
fully recover, culminating in a 2-1 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills at
the NCAA Division II National
Championship regionals on Nov. 8. The heartbreaking overtime defeat ended the
Tritons’ season, which at one point had UCSD ranked as the country’s No. 2
team.
In a twist of ironic cruelty, it was the Cal State Dominguez
Hill Toros that helped start the Tritons’ late-season slide. On Oct. 10, the
Toros dealt UCSD its first loss, a 1-0 shutout at Triton Soccer Stadium. The
Tritons would go on to win only two of their next five games, ending with the
regional loss in Seattle.
The injuries took an unprecedented toll on the Tritons
throughout the year, even forcing them to start the season short a few players.
Toward the end of the year, more and more players joined the ranks on injured
reserve, but the resilient Tritons pushed through all the way to the end.
“We were probably the
only team with a starting lineup that had never played together for the whole
season,” head coach Brian McManus said. “From the beginning of the season we
always had at least two injured starters. It’s amazing that our planned
starting 11 never played together.”
During the regular season, CSUDH won the series with a 0-0
draw and a 1-0 victory. Ever since UCSD moved to Division II, the in-conference
rivalry that the Tritons have developed with the Toros has reached epic proportions,
making every meeting between the two teams all the more heated.
On Nov. 8, it was again Dominguez Hills that drew first
blood, with the Toros’ senior midfielder Amy Livergood netting the game’s first
goal in the 20th minute. The Tritons, who scored 31 total goals on the season,
were held scoreless for the remainder of the first half. After regrouping
during halftime, UCSD came out of the gates strong and in the 67th minute,
junior forward Natasha Belak-Berger scored the equalizing goal on a shot that
found the upper right corner of the net. The goal was Belak-Berger’s seventh of
the year and was assisted by senior midfielder Ali Lai, her second assist this
season.
Neither team was able to push across a game-winning goal for
the rest of regulation play, sending the already tense game into an
exhilarating overtime period. With 1:10 left in the first overtime period,
Dominguez Hills junior forward Yvonne Vasquez sent a dagger through the heart
of the Triton faithful with a goal that just passed through the diving hands of
junior keeper Jessica McGovern. The goal would prove to be the game winner,
with the Tritons unable to score in the final minute.
Sophomore midfielder Alexia Zatarain was stunned when the
game-winning shot took the air. And when it swooshed into the back of the net,
she became all too aware of the goal’s consequences.
“I saw the ball go up in the air and in the back of my mind
I was hoping and praying that the ball would just sail past the goal,” Zatarain
said. “It was heartbreaking, especially for the seniors. I can’t even imagine
how the seniors feel, it’s horrible to think about what it means to them. We
played a good game of soccer but when it comes down to it that one moment
changes everything and after that you don’t get a second chance.”
As one of the team’s main veteran leaders, the career-ending
loss cut especially deep for midfielder Lai.
“It sucks, especially losing to our biggest rivals,” Lai
said. “Everybody expects us to go farther than the first round and so the loss
was really hard. It’s good that there are so many seniors on our team to
support each other because we are all going through this together.”
In addition to Lai, the Tritons will lose seniors Alie
Avina, Chelsey Campbell, Stacy Johnson, Rachel Lindenfeld, Nicole Pepper,
Caitlin Ryan, Lauren Segars and Kathy Sepulveda. McManus expressed his pride
and admiration for his seniors’ leadership and his team’s achievement and
determination.
“For what the team has done with all of the injuries, no
other team in the conference or the whole country could have done,” McManus
said. “This team was the probably one of the biggest achieving teams that we
have ever had at UCSD. To do what they did was unbelievable.”
