The Lady Corsairs (4-6-2 overall, 3-1-2 conference) soccer team hoped they could keep a “zero” in their conference loss column after their match against College of the Canyons (5-0-0, 10-2-0, 15). Unfortunately, “zero” was the number of goals they scored on this day.
The Cougars shut out Santa Monica College (SMC) 2-0 to end the Corsairs’ seven-match unbeaten streak.
“It was a tough game,” SMC head coach Aaron Benditson said. “We missed some really good opportunities against this team. The final piece of it wasn’t there today.”
Those missed opportunities plagued the Lady Corsairs late in the first half and the entire second half.
Just before halftime, Sarah Barrington appeared to have a breakaway chance to score, charging the Lady Cougars goalkeeper uncontested. However, Canyon’s Kristen Grunhold blocked Barrington’s shot point blank.
The Lady Corsairs had a flurry of opportunities between the 76th and 77th minutes, most notably when Lilly Ruiz set up to rifle a shot from about 15 yards out. To her dismay, she was offsides.
Grunhold would block yet another SMC shot from close range, this time in the 82nd minute, and frustration reached a fever pitch when Barrington bended a 30-yarder just over the top of the goalpost in the 87th minute.
The Lady Cougars scored both of its goals in the second half. Jessica Heade knocked the ball past SMC goalkeeper Katherine Alvarenga near the left post off of a corner kick in the 50th minute, while Sydney Tobin rifled a bullet of a shot from about 35 yards out to find the back of the net in the 72nd minute.
SMC returns to the field on Oct. 25, when the Lady Corsairs visit Bakersfield College. It is the first of three games that week, including a visit to Taft College on Oct. 27 before returning home to face Los Angeles Valley College on Oct. 28.
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