Daniel Cromar
When you go out for a soccer game on a beatiful October afternoon, you just can’t help but feel good about it.
Unfortunately for the Valley College Monarchs, that feeling didn’t last long.
The Pierce women’s soccer team crushed their crosstown rivals 7-0 on Friday at Pierce, bringing their overall record to 13-2-3, and dropping Valley’s record to 3-12-2.
“We just scored goals,” said Head Coach Aldolfo Perez. “I don’t even know who scored.”
It’s easy to see how he could lose track. Five Brahmas scored, and two of those five scored twice. Yasmin Yahoum and Amanda Bernal each scored a goal in both halves, and Rachel Kove, Stephanie Cubias, and Dilhani Perera scored one each.
The Brahmas were in complete control of the game from the first whistle. They kept the ball on the Monarchs side of the field for almost the entire game, and had it not been for Monarch goalkeeper Myra Garcia’s early strength (and perhaps some shakey early offense), the score would have been a lot higher than 3-0 at the half. But eventually the constant onslaught wore Garcia down, and the Brahmas started scoring.
Looking down to the other end of the field, Pierce goalkeeper Betty Ramirez could have just laid down and taken a nap for the whole game. Valley did not manage to take a single shot at goal.
“When I stand I feel like im resting,” said Ramirez about just standing in the goal the entire game. “It makes me more calm for the other games…where i get more aggressive and more excited.”
Ramirez may have had an uneventful game, but the rest of the team sure didn’t. Yahoum and Bernal each scored their first goals of the game in the first half, and Kove scored her first goal of the year.
“I get more gratification from assisting goals and making goals happen, but it feels great to get a goal,” said Kove. “And the assist was from Emilie (Martinez), who I played club with.”
The first half ended with the Brahmas up 3-0, but Perez felt like it could have been more.
“We’re not finishing,” he said at the half. “As good as we’re playing, we should have three or four more goals.”
He had a point. Yahoum has a goal called back (a goal which would have ultimately given her a hat trick) halfway through the first half because of a close offside call, and another shot that appeared to just get in under the crossbar was ruled not a goal by the referee, and there were several other oppurtunities to score that the Brahmas let slip away.
The second half opened with Pierce showing the same dominance they showed in the first half. It took Stephanie Cubias just five minutes to score, and seven minutes later, Amanda Bernal notched her second goal of the game, followed shortly by Yasmin Yahoum’s second goal.
“Practice was good, so it paid off,” said Yahoum after the game.
About halfway through the first half, sophmore captain Dilhani Perera limped off the field and headed straight to the trainers. She spent the rest of the half nursing her quad, which has plagued her in the past.
“The muscles were rusting for two weeks and now they’re just really sore and tight. It’s fine now,” said Perera.
Apparently it is. Perera closed out the game with Pierce’s seventh goal, sending a header into the back of the net.
That capped the 7-0 shutout, which was the Brahmas’ twelfth of the season. It was also their highest scoring game since they beat West LA 10-0 on August 27th.
Midfielder Amanda Bernal, who scored two of seven goals for the 7-0 win, takes on LA. Valley College defenders at a home game Friday. (Alina Popov)