The Santa Rosa Junior College women’s soccer team lost 1-0 to Sierra College, just ahead of conference playoffs, on Tuesday.
Despite the loss, the Bear Cubs put a lot of effort on the pitch, with frequent pressure throughout the first half. SRJC midfielder Natalie Ortiz had a free kick attempt but was blocked by Sierra College goalkeeper Hannah Andreasen.
The Wolverines scored the only goal of the game when Farrah Bender ran and crossed the ball into the box and forward Angelina Kazinec headed the ball into the back of the net.
The Bear Cubs were very unlucky, hitting the bar three times in the game, twice in the first half and once in the second half.
“The posts and the cross bar are not always gonna be our fans,” SRJC head coach Crystal Chaidez said. “The biggest thing that came from the game for me is the second half – the reaction, the mentality, the drive, never giving up. I told them after the game, ‘this is a playoff environment. This is what we need to do and this is how we need to react at half time’ so it was good,” said SRJC head coach Crystal Chaidez.
The Bear Cubs started strong in the second half as well, looking for an equalizing goal. In the 60th minute, a Wolverines midfielder was given a yellow card after a foul on Bear Cubs forward Taylor Gandy.
SRJC forward Shae Dougherty had the shot for a goal but went wide. In the concluding minutes of the game, the Bear Cubs almost scored the equalizing goal when Gandy ran into the box in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper but missed wide..
Chaidez talked about the team’s preparation for playoffs.
“We talked about it before the game today and I told the girls we’re where we need to be,” Chaidez said. “We’re still kind of gaining experience. The conference tournament starts on Friday. We’ve been through every scenario possible and at the top of our list is playoffs after that so we’re gonna focus on doing the best we can in our tournament, but also using that as an experiment to get ready for playoffs,” Chaidez said.
The Bear Cubs will play their first conference tournament at home against Modesto Junior College at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7.
