San Joaquin Delta College ended SRJC’s women’s polo four-game winning streak with an 18-10 beatdown Wednesday.
The Bear Cubs got off to a rough start, allowing the Mustangs two easy fast break opportunities and two relaxed offensive possessions early. The Mustangs capitalized and went up 4-0.
Santa Rosa’s defense was their biggest woe in yesterday’s game and kept them from having a chance to win. However, the defense wasn’t the only thing that held the Cubs back. There was no response from the Santa Rosa offense.
The Bear Cubs had limited shot attempts in the first quarter, and the ones they had were contested well. Errant passes gave quick possessions right back to San Joaquin.
A couple more errors on defense, including a goal that forced its way through the hand of Santa Rosa goalie, Kelly Birkland dug a 6-0 hole for the Bear Cubs.
“We started to get frustrated and we didn’t stick together,” said second-year utility player Makayla Jordan.
It didn’t get much better for SRJC even when they managed to get a couple good stops on defense. They turned it over, allowing an open shot for Delta, which they converted.
The score was 7-0 by the end of the first quarter. This was a far cry from the Bear Cubs recent outings, when they were on the right side of a blowout.
“They are top 5 in the state this year and went top 4 last year, so we knew we had a tough game ahead of us today,” said Joey Doyle, head coach.
The start of the second quarter for the Bear Cubs didn’t go any better. Although they started off with the ball and got a good shot attempt out of it, they couldn’t convert.
Their defense continued to dig the Bear Cubs into a hole, allowing two more easy San Joaquin tallies. This pushed the score to 9-0.
Shortly after, the Bear Cubs finally put the ball in the goal. An offensive possession highlighted by sharp passes and an accurate shot would get Santa Rosa on the board, 9-1. This was when the Bear Cubs made a run.
Santa Rosa went on to score 3 more unanswered points which were high pointed by a spectacular behind the back no-look score.
Unfortunately, the Bear Cubs good fortunes were short lived. Starting the third quarter down 10-4, the defense again let Santa Rosa down as San Joaquin Delta would go on to score 4 more goals. SRJC went into the fourth down 14-5.
Santa Rosa didn’t give up. They put forth a frantic comeback effort in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell short.
The Bear Cubs hope to bounce back Friday Oct. 12 at the Crossover Tournament at Las Positas College.