On April 7, they faced rival San Diego State on their home field. Prior to the game, UCSD head coach Lindsay Barton said she was optimistic about the team’s chances.

“We have a strong team this season,” Barton said. “This is the year that we could beat San Diego State. If the girls come out ready to play and keep their momentum going into the second half, this should be a good game.”

As Barton predicted, the team came out in attack mode. Freshman Maddie DeLoria led the UCSD offense, scoring four goals during the first half. However, the Tritons were shut down in the second half when the Aztecs went on an offensive tear, and the girls went home with a 19-6 loss.

Team morale was low going into the weekend after Wednesday night’s loss, but the team sucked it up for its final two home games of the season, against Arizona State and the University of Arizona, on April 10 and April 11, respectively.

Junior midfielder Tamara Schroeder said that her team would have to put its loss to the Aztecs behind them to ensure victory in the upcoming games.

“It’s going to be really hard to keep team spirits high this weekend after losing to State,” Schroeder said. “We just need to focus on keeping our heads up and playing hard no matter what.”

Saturday’s game against the Sun Devils showcased a world of improvement from the lady Tritons — but the effort was not enough to secure a win against a resilient Arizona State.

The Tritons were able to stay within a few goals until the end of the second half, when Arizona State cranked up its offense and put the game away with back-to-back breakaway goals, leaving with a final score of 19-9.

Schroeder scored three goals to lead the Tritons, while sophomore Victoria Azzi and freshman Caitlin Takahashi added two goals apiece against the Sun Devils. UCSD saw a significant setback in the game when sophomore midfielder Stephanie Gerretsen suffered a knee injury in the first half; Gerretsen, a regular starter and one of UCSD’s key players, was sidelined for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday morning’s game against the University of Arizona was the Tritons’ last chance for redemption. However, once more, the team came out strong during the first half — nearly matching the Wildcats goal for goal — but let Arizona break away with the lead in the second half. The game ended in a 19-11 loss for UCSD.

Junior captain Monica Nguyen, along with Azzi and Takahashi, each added two goals to the Triton score.

Nguyen, reflecting on the season, said the team’s young talent promises more successful future seasons.

“We have a really young team this year,” Nguyen said. “Our girls have a lot of individual talent that is only going to grow as they gain more experience playing and competing during the season. It was a hard week and we played some tough teams, but I think we improved a lot and played well this weekend.”

Junior captain Jessica Greiner shared Nguyen’s optimism.

“We’ve learned a lot this season, and I’m excited to see what we can do going into next year,” Greiner said. “We just need to develop our new recruits and work on building our team, so that next year we will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Readers can contact Christina Chopin at [email protected].