The start of the 2023, Los Medanos Womens’ Soccer Team defense held strong to force a draw against West Valley. Goalkeeper Maliah Alicea was a big part of that shut out. Alicea saved everything from all angles as she led the defense with save after save.
“It was a collective effort from the coaching to all the players on the field,” said Thomas Keller, a fan who was in attendance.
Keller was one of the fifty-four people who were in attendance on Tuesday August 29th as Los Medanos College and West Valley faced off at 2 p.m.
Before the kick-off began the crowd was already pumped with excitement and you could hear the chants and cheers from both respected benches. “Come on Mustang’s,” a crowd member can be heard screaming.
Communication and transparency on the field was all a coach could ask for. You could hear the players yelling at each other at times “Mirar, Mirar” means look in Spanish and references the ball that may go towards them.
The Mustangs offense kicked it up a notch ever since the 14:14 mark in the first half. Before that, West Valley’s offense was the one always in attack mode. The Vikings seemed to keep The Mustang’s on their heels.
There was a brief gasp from everyone in attendance, when LMC Mustang, #21 Brenda Ramirez Flores went down with an injury and hobbled off the field. She received a standing ovation as she appeared to be injured but was able to stand up on her own two feet. It was great to see everyone clap for her as she stood up and walked off. Competitors compete but no one wants to see anyone get hurt.
The Mustang’s offensive momentum carried into the second half followed up with a mean and stingy defense that wasn’t giving up any scores easily. Both teams still remained scoreless due to a good defensive display from both teams.
The Mustangs did had effective communication on the field even though at times it looked like they were still getting to know one another’s strengths and still learning where each other would be on the field. That all comes with time, patience, and getting more comfortable with one another.
After catching up with student athlete, Los Medanos Women’s Soccer Team’s very own, Zuleyka Berumen after the game, she had some things to say about her experience vs West Valley Women’s Soccer Team.
“I enjoyed playing with a new team and experiencing soccer at a college level,” said Berumen.
Before the game, Mustang’s outside back, Lily Garcia, shared that, “I am excited for challenging games and playing a lot of good competition.”
Assistant Coach, Sal Acevedo said he has high hopes for this upcoming season.
“Our expectations are always to win the league, being back-to-back to back-to-back champions, but the expectations do also change as the season advances,” Acevedo said.
“Today we just wanted to be in the best shape we could, work on chemistry and for it being the first game we met the expectations,” said Acevedo.
