The Pierce College soccer team tied the San Diego Miramar Jets at Pierce College on Sept. 15.
The Brahmas and Jets kept each other scoreless through 93 minutes of play. The last time Pierce played the Jets was in San Diego in the playoffs and the Jets eliminated the Brahmas with a final score of 2-1.
From the start of the game to the end it was filled with aggressive play and chippy fouls. Most fouls were committed early by the Jets and led to four early first half free kicks for the Brahmas. They were not able to capitalize on the free kicks but were defensively solid throughout the first half.
Sophomore goalie Cindy Godina had two crucial saves to send both teams into halftime scoreless.
The Brahmas looked like their old self at the start of the second half and Sophomore defender Stephanie Alcazar had a shot on goal that was deflected in the ‘48.
Twelve minutes later in the ‘60, the brahmas took off on a counter attack from the right side of the field and the ball found Freshman forward Makayla Nichols sprinting down the field. She then centered a near perfect cross to Freshman midfielder Jeanelly Chavez. Chavez sent the header to the goal but it was picked up by the Jet’s goalie Adrianna Olmedo.
Miramar’s Rachael Camara went down in the ‘62 with a leg injury and was carried off the field to be looked at by the athletic training staff. She eventually returned to her team’s bench on her own power.
The referee allowed for three extra minutes to be added due to stopping the clock for the injury. Toward the end of that time, Pierce was allotted a throw in near the jet’s goal. The team began to set up for a potential scoring opportunity. Right before Pierce could throw the ball in the referee blew his whistle to signal the game had ended which left the Brahmas coaching staff livid.
“The head referee thought that Pierce was delaying the game so he decided to end it,” said referee Magic Brenji.
The coaching staff did not agree with that decision.
“I think what happened was that the game got away from the referee,” said assistant coach Cruz Hernandez. “He was becoming very inconsistent and I think he was rattled a little bit from the fouls and from the coaches and at the end I think he just wanted to end the game because he felt like he wanted to get out of there. To me, he was totally wrong, you have to let the play finish and you have to let the play finish. That is unacceptable.”
“The greatest takeaway from today is that we didn’t lose,” said Head Coach Adolfo Perez. “We did better against Cerritos because they were better soccer-wise, but these guys put a ton of pressure on you.”
Perez says that if they go into their next game focused they will play better.
