The Bear Cubs women’s soccer team came up short in a 1-0 loss at home against Consumnes River College Oct. 24.
In an evenly played match CRC managed to put one away early during the 17th minute. Bear Cubs’ center defender Chelsea Frostick cleared the ball wide where Kelsey Jantzen of CRC recovered the ball, dribbled towards the end line, and crossed the ball into the box. CRC’s forward Marissa Lopez chested the ball in for the goal, making it 1-0 CRC.
Sophmore Samie Acevedo played a through ball towards the left side for Annie Studdert, who then got clipped from behind by a CRC defender. Midfielder Taylor Halstenson then took the free kick, placing the ball into the box where Studdert connected with her head, leading the ball to sail over for a CRC goalkick.
Twenty-one minutes in, midfielder Kayleen Belda brought the ball up from the half line, dribbling through a couple players. Belda, having an open window 20 yards out, took a shot on goal, and barely missed the target.
Seven minutes later the Bear Cubs had another look on target when forward Alissa Hickling laid the ball off for Natalia Picano. Wasting no time, Picano hit the ball on her first touch for a shot but the Hawk’s goalkeeper flicked the ball, but went over the crossbar for a Bear Cub corner.
“It was disappointing,” Picano said. “We are capable of so much more. The only way to succeed is to work as a team, and there was a lot of individual work against Consumnes.”
Picano also said that the Bear Cubs need to play consistency and have a better atttide on field.
In minute 43 CRC broke away, played a negative ball into the box, and took a wide open shot but Bear Cubs’ keeper Morgan Jernigan made a huge save, flicking the ball out of bounds.
At the end of the half, it was 1-0 CRC.
A couple minutes into the second half, another Bear Cubs’ opportunity arose when freshman Mali Herrera won the ball from a CRC defender, and dribbled forward to commit another defender before passing the ball to forward Julia Lambert. Lambert took a touch forward then passed the ball back to Herrera, who made a diagonal run. Herrera received the ball, then took a touch, and a shot, but the ball missed the target traveling far left.
Both teams had multiple opportunities to score but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
SRJC came off a huge 2-1 away win against Sierra College Oct. 21, but had a hard time bringing that same intensity against CRC.
The Bear Cubs agreed that a lot of individual efforts were put forth opposed to a collective team effort, allowing technical mistakes to be a huge factor in the game.
The Bear Cubs regrouped after the game, and discussed what went wrong and what needs to be done going forward.
“Focusing on fundamentals and things we can control,” said head coach Tracy Hamm.
The Bear Cubs will be back in action at 1 p.m. Oct. 28 against Delta College in Stockton.