The Los Medanos Mustangs Women’s soccer team suffered a heartbreaking loss against the Cañada Colts at home yesterday. LMC left it out on the field, but the Colts’ fierce competition proved too much, and the Mustangs received a crushing 5-2 loss.
The game started off fiercely, with a goal from Cañada only seven minutes into play. Still in the fight, LMC answered back quickly with a beautifully coordinated push by No. 5 Sofia Henderson and No. 8 Maya Alvarez. Henderson carried the ball through the offensive end on the right side of the field. Under pressure, she managed to squeak off a perfect cross to Alvarez on the far side of the goal. Alvarez received the ball and tapped it in for LMC’s first goal of the game, not three minutes after Cañada’s first.
“It was a very good ball from Sofia,” said Alvarez after the game. Henderson would go on to be a dangerous part of LMC’s offense, repeatedly creating chances and pushing the ball down the field.
The game devolved for the Mustangs; however, the energy they had in the first quarter quickly dissipated, and the defense started to fall behind.
Cañada used the opening to score a little while later, when a push down the field yielded a direct kick just outside the box.
“We could’ve held it if we kept the energy up,” said Alvarez after the game. “Moved quicker, passed smoother.”
The Colts struck again when a corner kick went soaring into the mix of players just in front of the goal, and Cañada’s No. 24 Lainee Lombana headed it in for the Colts’ third goal of the game, leaving the score 3-1.
LMC was not out yet, however, and several chances during the first half looked very promising, but ultimately, nothing came of them during the half.
The weather was sweltering during the game, so both teams were more than eager to make use of halftime to regroup and plan their next moves in the shade. Once they returned, the competition was reinvigorated by the break and was hotter than ever.
LMC put the pressure back on and was moving much quicker than at the end of the last half. Their movement was more organized, quicker, their touch and passing focused, not lazy.
However, no matter how hard the Mustangs pushed, Cañada pushed them back and kept the competition alive with extreme skill and speed.
The Colts managed a header shortly after the half began when they were allowed a cross in the Mustang defensive end, leaving the score at a disheartening 4-1. LMC did not give up and redoubled its efforts on the attack. Push after push down the lines were driven back, but the LMC offensive surge paid off when a foul inside the box by Cañada provided a penalty kick for the Mustangs. No. 10 Tatiana Diaz took the kick, delivering a textbook shot to the bottom left of the goal, chipping away at the Colts’ lead.
The score is now 4-2, and the situation showed a glimmer of hope for LMC.
As the game wore on, the Mustangs gradually lost energy and slowed down on the whole. The surge of energy that led to the second LMC goal gradually fizzled out, and as the minutes ticked by, the game became once again a game of desperate defense for the Mustangs against a stronger Cañada.
“They were able to play through our center really well,” said No. 6 Angelina Bond.
The push paid off for the Colts when a corner kick yielded another goal for Cañada with minutes left in the game. The score was now 5-2, and less than 10 minutes left in the game, it was all but over for the Mustangs.
The team knew it was going to be a tough game, as Cañada has always been a very good team.
“We knew it was going to be rough,” said No. 20 Tete McCarthy. “We needed to stay more composed, more energized.”
With only two more games before conference, the team is trying to hone its chemistry and coordination as much as possible before then.
We were pretty good defensively, we were able to hold them at 1-1 for a while, that was good,” said Head Coach Zach Sullivan. “But we could’ve done a lot better on set pieces.”
Out of the five goals Cañada scored, three of them were set pieces, two corners, and a free kick.
“We need to be better defensively when those happen,” said Sullivan.
Going into the next two games, he hopes that the team will continue to build chemistry and prepare for the conference.
“We are looking for seven in a row for conferences,” said Sullivan.
Their next game is Monday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m. at home vs. Feather River College.
