WOMEN’S SOCCER — The women’s soccer team returned from their two-game campaign in the Bay Area with mixed results, beating CSU Monterey Bay 4-1 on Sept. 24, but only managing a frustrating 0-0 draw with San Francisco State two days later.
The Tritons came into Friday’s match against Monterey Bay having suffered a 1-2 loss to CSU Humboldt on Sept. 17, which dropped them from the national rankings for the first time in the 2010 season.
UCSD came back strong in their game against the Otters, netting four goals from four different Tritons.
The match quickly became a showcase of the Triton offense, as UCSD outshot CSU Monterey Bay 24-3.
The first goal was provided by sophomore forward Gabi Hernandez, who sent a header into the back of the net off a cross from sophomore Hayley Johnson at the 27-minute mark.
The header marked Hernandez’s third goal of the season and Johnson’s fourth assist.
“I didn’t even really need to do anything but stay in front of the keeper and jump,” Hernandez said. “[Johnson] has been practicing her corners and free kicks relentlessly; she always does good things with the ball.”
Just four minutes later, CSU Monterey Bay scored an equalizer when sophomore midfielder Marlina Massagli tied the game at 1-1 off an assist from sophomore midfielder Gabriella Bozzo.
The scored remained tied until the second half when juniors Sarah McTigue and Shelby Wong connected in front of the goal in the 57th minute. McTigue sent a header past Monterey goalkeeper Graciela Holguin off of a cross from Wong.
“McTigue scored a great goal at the beginning of the second half that enabled our attack and really opened the floodgates for us,” junior keeper Kristin Armstrong said.
The Tritons netted two more goals in the dying minutes of the match. The third goal came in the 80th minute from sophomore forward Alyssa Newcomer, who capitalized on a rebound from another cross by Johnson.
Just two minutes later, graduate student forward Annette Ilg finished the Otters off by knocking in a chance rebound for her fourth goal of the season.
UC San Diego looked to carry this momentum into their match on Sunday where they played to a 0-0 overtime draw against San Francisco State University.
The Gators are currently ranked third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division.
Despite the final score, the Tritons poured on the offense throughout the game, tallying 17 shots compared to the Gators’ nine.
“It was a disappointing loss, because the game was one of the best we have played this season,” Armstrong said. “We connected a lot better and were able to keep possession. But San Francisco really played for the tie, and in the end we weren’t able to finish.”
Armstrong tallied her 10th career shutout with the draw.
Armstrong and the Triton defense — consisting of Johnson, junior defense Sara Spaventa and anchored by sophomore defense Ellen Wilson, smothered the San Francisco attack, keeping San Francisco State scoreless and limiting the Gators to a paltry four shots on goal.
On the other end of the pitch, the Triton attackers combined to create a number of scoring chances.
In the first half, Ilg and Wong recorded three dangerous attempts apiece in front of the Gator goal.
But San Francisco State goalkeeper Annica Jones mustered an impressive career high of 10 saves, keeping the Tritons scoreless.
The best chance for UCSD came in the 109th minute, nearing the end of the overtime period.
Johnson sent a corner kick into the box that found its way to Ilg, but the striker narrowly missed attaining what would have been her fifth goal of the season because she hit the crossbar just moments before the final whistle.
With eight games under their belt, the Tritons are now 4-2-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
“We are expecting to keep taking steps forward,” senior captain Lisa Bradley said after the match. “We played well this past weekend. Now we just need to continue on what we have built and start putting the ball in the net.”
The Tritons will have to do just that when they host CSU San Bernardino this Friday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. The Coyotes will be looking to rebound after falling out of the top 25 last week.
The team was ranked 14th nationally before going 0-2-1 in their last three games.
The Tritons will follow that game with a match against Cal Poly Pomona on Oct. 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Readers can contact Rachel Uda at [email protected]
