The Santa Rosa Junior College women’s soccer team lost team captain Hollie Depina en route to a 3-1 loss to defending state champions Cerritos College.
Depina was injured right before the end of the half and didn’t return from an apparent knee injury.
With goalkeeper Morgan Jernigan out of the game with a concussion, Bear Cubs freshman keeper Jayci Mariani stepped up big time. Cerritos had a direct kick about 25 yards out that looked like it was going in before Mariani tipped it over the crossbar for the save.
In the first half, midfielder Holle Depina dribbled around a defender and played a through ball to split the defenders. But before freshman Julia Lambert could connect with the ball, a Cerritos player slid to get a touch on the ball to redirect it out of bounds for a Bear Cub’s corner kick.
Another opportunity arose with 5 minutes left in the half when Depina took a great first touch forward to beat the defender for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
On the other end, SRJC center defender Chelsea Frostick made a huge save when she slid and tackled the ball out of bounds from a Cerritos forward. The Bear Cubs responded by creating their own chances when Lambert recovered a loose ball out of the goalkeeper’s hands and quickly got a shot that veered far right.
Cerritos forward, Nayele Raquejo laid the ball off to midfielder Ashley Anaya-Webb, who scored for a goal minutes before the end of the half.
The Bear Cubs had kept the No. 1 nationally ranked team scorless for nearly 43 minutes with only three subs.
An unintentional handball on Mar Alinas resulted in a penalty kick, which the Falcons converted for a 2-0 lead.
With the Bear Cubs down two, they cut the lead in half when two Falcon defenders along with the goalkeeper collided, as Kayleen Belda kicked the ball forward to Lambert, who capitalized, making the score 2-1 CC.
Cerritos College scored an insurance goal in the last 30 seconds of the game, making the final score 3-1.
“We just need to do what we can at training and on game days to stay focused and positive regardless of the issues that are happening off the field,” said head coach Tracy Hamm.
The Bear Cubs are now 1-1.
SRJC returns to action at 4 p.m. Sept. 9 against Mendocino College and 3:30 p.m. Sept. 12 against San Francisco City College.