Girl’s varsity soccer tied 2-2 against Los Lomas in their first league game of the season on December 11, to the disappointment of the Cougars.
“I think our team came out over confident because the last times we’ve played Los Lomas we’ve beaten them, so we didn’t realize they were going to give us a hard game,” said right-forward Bridget Coleman.
Los Lomas scored within the first 2 minutes by a down-the-line pass directly through Campolindo’s defense, and a shot into the goal. “We didn’t really start off well, and they scored on us right away, which I think kind of discouraged us from playing well,” said Coleman.
According to Coleman, Los Lomas’ goal was a wake up call for the Cougars. During the first half they worked to catch up to the Knights. Junior Annie Loose’s goal tied the game.
By halftime, the score had not changed, and Campolindo was hopeful that they would pull ahead of Los Lomas. “Our mentality went up and we were in it because it was tied,” said Coleman.
However, Coleman believes that in the second half, the increased noise level and rude shouting from the Los Lomas fans and bench was overwhelming for the Cougars, and caused them to lose concentration. “It got way worse and I think we just let that take over and get in our heads, and we started passing the ball to Las Lomas players, making silly mistakes, and just the pressure got too much,” she said.
“I think that the surroundings did affect the way we played, we just have to work to not let outside things affect how we play,” said junior Toinette Finnane.
Coleman believes that in the second half, pressure to break the tie caused a lack of communication between the forwards and mid-field defense. “I don’t think we found our forwards enough, like they found their forwards a lot. I think if we just found our forwards like they found their forwards, it would have been a better game,” she said.
Despite these difficulties, Coleman was able to score a follow-up goal from a pass by junior Emily Orwig, with 8 minutes left on the clock. “It wasn’t an amazing goal, but just the finish was there,” said Coleman.
Junior Sammy Vankoll believed that “Against Los Lomas, we should defend more on the sides instead of passing back, and kick it up more.”
Los Lomas scored with only 2 minutes left on the clock, bringing the score to a tie once again. The game finished with a score of 2-2.
“We have a style of play that we like to put out there and today I think we were a little more frantic than what we would like,” coach Ernesto Silva said.
Finnane was also disappointed, but she will continue to cheer on and support her team. “It’s frustrating tying it when you know you should have won,” she said.
However, Coleman recognizes that the game was important to the Knights as well. “They wanted to win this big game, it meant something really big to them. When they scored and we tied it kind of felt like a defeat to us, whereas it felt like a victory to them,” she said.
Coach Silva looks forward to playing against Los Lomas in the future. “I love good competition,” he said. “I think next time we play them we’re going to win.”
