Women's Soccer Silences Citrus College Owls At Home in 6-0 romp
In their first seven games preceding conference play the Santa Monica College women's soccer team faced tough opponents under harsh circumstances.
Their effort to make a statement early in the season resulted in a record of 3-1-3, and molded them into a force to be reckoned with. This past Tues., Sept. 29, the Lady Corsairs displayed the benefit of their experience in their first conference game as they completely dismantled the Citrus College Lady Owls.
The Lady Corsairs gave an impressive performance as spectators assembled around the Corsair field, outscoring the Lady Owls 6-0. Freshman forward Mercy Tejada had fans cheering early on by scoring in the first minutes of the game. From that point on the home team set the tone of the game, challenging their visitors to meet their style of play. Ultimately, the intensity of the Lady Corsairs at both of ends of the field would wear down the entire Citrus College roster, whereas a fresh and energized Santa Monica team would generate great plays from all players on the field.
According to head coach Aaron Benditson, the Lady Corsairs were looking forward to a positive result for the evening; a combination of relentless assaults on the Lady Owls' goal and a practically impassible Corsair defense transformed confidence and control into a shutout leading to a blowout. The majority of the game was spent in Lady Owls' territory, where Santa Monica attackers strategically dribbled around frantic Citrus defenders.
To the Lady Owls' credit they never stopped playing, and even managed a few last minute pushes later in the game.
However, with their morale running low, the Lady Owls could never seem to make any headway into Lady Corsair territory, and the home team never let the Owls off of the hook.
Even through the closing minutes of the blowout, the Lady Corsairs communicated effectively with each other and operated as a unit.
"This game was a good confidence builder," said SMC head coach, Aaron Benditson. "Everybody had a role in [Tuesday's] win."
The long list of names on that evening's statistics agree with him.
Forwards Jessica Brambila, Brianna Edwards, Mercy Tejada and defender Caitlin Rutherford, each contributed a goal to the evening's impressive final score. Midfielder Hallie Spigelman scored two goals and one assist, and was named the "most impactful player of the game" by Coach Benditson.
"I'm really excited, we've been working really hard," said Spigelman between deep breaths as she was cooling down from her performance in Tuesday's game.
Though she was energized by the win, Spigelman kept her sights on the season ahead, and let the Lady Corsairs know that the women's soccer team "can't wait to face more teams.