Rachel Roth, Spring 2009 Staff Writer
For the last four seasons the Victory Valley soccer tournament, has been the turning point for the Pierce College women’s soccer program. This year, it was a wake-up call.
“It was a good reality check for us,” said assistant coach Victor Lopez, “we have a lot to work on and the girls know that.”
Seven community college teams from across California competed in the two-day Victor Valley tournament, played September 6-7. Six of those teams made the playoffs last year, including Pierce.
The team started the tournament strong, playing two games on Saturday in temperatures that rose to 110?. In the first game, they tied Sierra 1-1, but lost in penalty kicks. In the second game of the day, they beat Antelope Valley 4-0.
“The first day we played the best we’ve played so far this year,” said Kelsey Morquecho, mid/forward.
The second day did not go as well. The team lost 5-0 to Victor Valley, which resulted in sliding in the rankings from fifth to 10th.
In his seven seasons as head coach, loosing to Victor Valley was the hardest loss of Adolfo Perez’s career. “We’ve lost in the past to teams that were “better” then us,” said Perez, “but this is the first time that I can remember losing to a team that is not better.”
“The irony is that we outshot Victor Valley 20-9, but they ended up scoring four goals,” said Perez of the game. “In most sports if you dominate during the game, you win. Soccer is different. The best team doesn’t always win.”
“We underestimated Victory Valley,” said forward Gabriella Gavotto. “We were tired from playing two games the day before. It was a bad day for us overall.
This year, the team lost a majority of its starters including four 1st Team All Conference players, four 2nd Team All Conference players, and the Western State Conference Most Valuable Player to graduation. “We only have two returning starters from last year out of 11,” said Perez. “We have a very young team. It isn’t an excuse, but we’re young.”
The women’s soccer team, currently 4-1-1, has a chance to rebound this week with games against two play-off caliber teams; Moorpark on Tuesday and Cuyamaca College on Friday. Both games are away.
“Our defense has to communicate a little more and our forwards have to score when they have the opportunity,” said Perez regarding the upcoming games. “We need to play the way we know how to play and we need to believe in ourselves. Hopefully, the tournament will turn out to be a good thing.”