Lady Corsairs Still Undefeated

By Josh Bourbeau
Corsair Staff Writer

The Santa Monica College women's soccer team has played six games this season and they haven't lost one. With stingy, swarming defense, and a ravenous offensive attack, the women's team has started this soccer season off on the right foot. After battling the Ventura Lady Pirates to a 3-3 tie the Lady Corsairs' record improved to 3-0-3.

Ventura College came into the match up with a record of 3-1 and a reputation as a tough, hard-working team, which has won 11 western conference championships in the last 13 seasons. Coach Aaron Benditson admitted that "at first they were a little intimidated because of their reputation" but as the game went on the team was able to "develop confidence that they could hang with them physically."

The confident SMC squad was led by their freshman forward Jen Hager who had one goal and one assist in this contest. She also leads the team with six goals so far this season. The two other goals were scored by freshmen Abigail Van Doren (forward) and Xochitl Salgado (midfielder). Sophomore Daniella DaCosta (midfielder) and freshman Hallie Spigelman (midfielder/forward) pitched in with an assist each.
In what was a very exciting and high-tempo game, the consistent play of the Lady Corsairs definitely put themselves in a great position to win against a first-class foe. Coach Benditson said that it appeared they were "winning a solid 60% of the game. They were definitely winning the possession battle and were the better team."
The Lady Corsairs were clearly outplaying the Lady Pirates since they were clinging to a 3-2 lead going into the 85th minute, but the proud Ventura team was able to pull together and sneak through the equalizing goal. "Good teams know how to capitalize," Benditson said, "that's exactly what Ventura did."

After such an impressive performance against one of the best teams in the conference, the Lady Corsairs can take a lot from this game as they move further into their season. The sky's the limit as they look to improve on their early successes. Benditson said he was "very optimistic" about the season and loves that his players are "buying into the philosophy that good things happen to those who work hard."