Soccer grabs late-season victory

The LMC Mustangs women’s soccer team won 3-1 Tuesday against the Mendocino Community College Eagles in what was very nearly a blowout. The Mustangs constant offense beat the Eagles down while the Eagles largely wasted their few opportunities. The Eagle’s single point was scored in the tail end of the second half when the game was all but won by the Mustangs.

The Mustangs started out strong controlling the game and putting the Eagles off balance. The vast majority of the first half was played in the Eagle’s side of the field with several Goal attempts by LMC.

LMC’s Maggie Aires scored the first of the game after the Mustangs had sufficiently worn the Eagles down with offensive drive after offensive drive.

Carmen Diaz followed up with a goal not long after furthering LMC’s lead “I was nervous, but once I scored the first time I got really excited,” said Aires who was more than pleased with her impressive performance.

Mendocino did put up significant resistance however, with 2 uncontested shots at goal, due in large part to forward Katelina Magdelano whose aggressive play style and agility proved enough to punch through the Mustang’s defense. These tense shots at goal were foiled by LMC goalie Norma Jara or flubbed however.

Magdelano was satisfied with her team’s playing “I think we played really well,” said Magdelano, “but we should have focused more on defense.”

The first half ended with the Mustangs taking a comfortable 2-0 lead, however, coach Zach Sullivan had his concerns about defense, “that could have easily been 2-2,” said Sullivan, mentioning Magdelano as the player to watch out for.

The second half saw the Mustangs continue to trample the Eagles and control the flow of the game. Early in the second half, Diaz seized an opportunity and scored once again giving the Mustangs a commanding lead.

Diaz did make another spectacular run at the goal passing to Autumn Kish for a dramatic goal attempt that very nearly widened the already impressive lead.

The game slowed down towards the end of the second half as the victor of the match was all but confirmed, however, Magdelano did come back and finally earn the Eagles their one point of the night bringing the final score to 3-1 in favor of the Mustangs.

Sullivan was proud of the team’s performance and looked forward to their next few games “we are starting to play better together, we play Marin next and that could decide who gets second place.”