Pierce women’s soccer team won its second game in a row on Tuesday, Sept. 17 against Los Angeles Valley College by a score of 5-0. The win improves Pierce’s record 2-2-1.
The game was at Monarch Stadium and began with a strong first half from Pierce, in which they scored four goals.
The first goal for Pierce was scored by midfielder Diana Argueta. She curled in a free kick to open up the scoring.
Argueta would continue to have a good game in the midfield by once again playing offense and defense for Pierce.
Sophomore forward Shawnie Moore added to Pierce’s lead by scoring a header off of a well-placed cross into the box.
Valley struggled to get any offense going and could not find the final ball to unravel Pierce’s defenders. Valley had two good chances to score on errors by Pierce’s defenders, but their shots were saved by freshman goalie Jenna Koziol.
The first half dragged on for Valley, as freshman forward Michelle Somers added another goal. Somers recovered the ball after a bad pass back to a defender and slotted the ball past the keeper to make it 3-0.
The goals would not end there. Freshman midfielder Maria Gutierrez made it 4-0 before halftime by curling in a goal from outside the box just before halftime.
During the second half, Valley pushed back hard, gaining better control of the ball and with far less defensive errors. The second half was back and forth. Both teams were creating chances, but neither could get the ball into the back of the net.
Although Valley put up a fight, Pierce managed to break through once again. Somers scored her second goal of the game by tapping in a cross by sophomore defender Karina Ramirez, who had pushed up in attack.
“I feel extremely happy,” Somers said after the game. “Things are starting to look bright for us.”
Valley’s head coach, Greg Venger, stated the team’s goal had been to control Pierce’s midfield and force the weaker players to match up against its strongest players.
“I thought we played much better the second half,” Venger said.
This second win seems to have raised the morale of Pierce as a whole, as the coach and team alike were smiling and exchanging happy banter with each other after the game.
Pierce’s head coach, Adolfo Perez, says this win was great for the team’s recruiting purposes and believes the team has made tremendous progress.
“This is the most goals we’ve made all year,” Perez said.
Pierce players and coaches agree this win helped the team.
“Our energy helped us play as a team,” Arguete said. “It gave us confidence.”
Pierce will hope to continue this run of form, but it will be difficult as they take on the current nationally top-ranked women’s soccer team of Cerritos College.
“We’re looking forward to playing the number one team,” Somers said.
The game will be on Friday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. at The Pit at Pierce.
