In a game full of nerves and mistakes, the Pierce College women’s soccer team played to a draw against Cuyamaca College on Tuesday.
These two teams had met before in the previous season opener, where Pierce lost 3-1.
Both teams began the game by making several errors in their respective midfield.
Within the first 10 minutes of the match, Pierce’s head coach, Adolfo Perez, made adjustments to the team out on the field. Both teams continued to make errors during important moments and played to a scoreless half.
“We had a chance to win against a quality opponent,” Perez said. “We should have won.”
The second half began quickly and with significantly less errors for both Pierce and Cuyamaca. Although Pierce maintained possession for much of the second half, no one scored.
Cuyamaca defended well, but struggled to get past midfield. The Coyotes were only able to play in Pierce’s half for a limited amount of time.
“I think we played and defended well,” said Cuyamaca’s head coach, Daniel Codina.
Codina credits the draw to Pierce’s improvement, and thought that the game had a playoff-type of atmosphere.
Pierce had a slew of chances, but their most dangerous ones came from set pieces. In two of the set pieces, Pierce came close to scoring, but the Coyotes’ goalie, Whitney Midelton, was able to clear the danger.
Perez admits the game was a bit frustrating as Pierce struggled to maintain possession and control of the ball.
“We had a lot of nervous freshmen out there,” Perez said.
Pierce’s sophomore forward – who played midfield in this game – Jacqueline Hilario, was one of the two Brahmas who made significant differences when on the ball.
On three different occasions, Hilario dribbled from midfield to the outside of the box before shooting wide or having her shot blocked. She also made several passes that troubled Cuyamaca’s defense.
“The irony is she’s a forward,” Perez said. “She’s one of our best goal scorers.”
Freshman midfielder Diana Argueta, who was not to be outdone by Hilario, anchored the midfield defensively and offensively. On several of the Coyotes’ attacks, Argueta made crucial tackles which she turned into counterattacks for Pierce.
Although errors were made, Perez is still excited about the rest of the season.
“We’re better than I expected,” he said.
