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Cathie Lawrence

Forward Brianna Farber sets to send ball upfield with a kick.

It was a tale of two halves in a 1-0 loss for the Mustangs against Solano Community College.  The loss was the fourth in a row for LMC, and they have been outscored 15-1 during that stretch.

The key word after the game was “frustrated” from head coach Mark Bryant.

In the first half the Mustangs seemed to do everything right. They fought for the ball, kept the ball on the offensive side of the field and put plenty of shots on goal, but the ball just did not reach the back of the net.

The best scoring opportunity for the Mustangs came when leading scorer Mikayla Farber shot from 30 yards out, but the ball hit the top bar and bounced over.

There were multiple other shots in the half for the Mustangs but all were too high, wide or landed harmlessly in the hands of Solano goalkeeper Anna Castro.

On the other side Solano played poorly in the first half, but still had the best scoring opportunity for either side when the ball was free in front of the net after LMC goalkeeper Randi Strain made a save, but couldn’t keep control of the ball. In a mess of players a Solano player got a foot on the free ball, but it flew over the top of the net.

Bryant said they had their chances in the first half, and if they had just executed there would have been a different outcome.

“We had good chances, we should have had three goals in the first half,” he said. “We did hit the crossbar once, but we had two other basically one-on-one shots that were high or wide or whatever. The (Solano) goalie made one good save in the first half.”

The second half was a totally different story for both teams.

When the two teams returned to the field it was now Solano that was on the offensive side of the field and a poor transition by LMC’s defense led to a one-on-one opportunity that Falcons foreword Mia Horn did not miss.

The goal held up as the lone score for either team as shots from both teams the rest of the way repeated the trend in the first half of high, wide or right into the hands of the goalkeeper.

The win ended a three game losing streak for Solano, and the win left Head Coach Jeff Cardinal in a good mood after the game.

“Wins heal, right?” he said. “We needed this to help us out to finish up.  This is the last game of the first round of conference and it’s good to leave on a high note.”

Bryant had a different tone.

“I’m frustrated,” he said. “The team needs to suck it up. Games aren’t won in 45 minutes. They need to play a full game.”

While Bryant believes the team needs to put a full 90 minutes of play together is a major issue, a key in the loss to Solano was the health of Mikayla Farber.

Halfway through the second half she left the game because of an illness that she was playing through without letting Bryant know about it until shortly before being pulled.

Mikayla Farber was not the only one dealing with health concerns as center midfielder Amanda Forbes missed the game with an illness and center defender Mairani Rosales missed the game while she recovers from a concussion. There has been a struggle with health all season.

Bryant will have time to get his team back on track and healthy for the first time all season as they have seven days between games before they head to the College of Marin Wednesday, Oct. 21.