The Hornets suffered a 3-1 loss on Friday against the College of the Canyons’ Cougars, which resulted in their second straight loss of the season and continued the reputation between the two teams.
The Cougars scored once early in the first half and twice in the second half of the game, while Fullerton’s only goal was scored by forward Laura Velez when she was set up with a nice pass from her teammate Edie Pfefferkorn against the Cougars’ goalkeeper, Rebecca Ferguson, concluding the game with another 3-1 final.
Fullerton’s biggest improvement from the last game was its defense. There were some great steals from The Hornets’ Team Co-Captain Gicela De La Rosa, as well as some outstanding blocks from another co-captain, Natalie Ramos.
Ramos was able to block the Cougars’ team captain, Bailey Williamson, on more than one occasion. The Hornets’ Layla Barnhart was rock solid on defense and got the ball back into scoring position many times throughout the game.
Fullerton’s goalkeeper, Kimmy Sperling, was on her game. She was catching shots taken against her, hitting the 50/50, and even as far as diving to ensure her team’s possession. Out of 10 shots, Sperling was able to defend against seven.
After getting out of position a few times to gain control of the ball, Sperling was taken down by a ball and was temporarily subbed out for midfielder Brooklyn Martinez, as their other goalkeeper, Kyra Mangini, is taking some time out for medical purposes. The athletic trainers were able to attend to Sperling and send her back in to continue the game within five minutes.
The Cougars played a finely orchestrated game. Ferguson directed her team on openings and warnings. In a few instances, we saw the ball being relayed seamlessly between the gaps left by Fullerton College.
“I would say that they should work as a team. I could tell towards the end they were all kind of getting on each other and just getting more frustrated than working as a team,” said Williamson.
In the last game against Southwestern, Team Captain Shiann Rivanis and Assistant Coach Kaelah Perez said that togetherness was the priority to work on for the next game. This week, Head Coach Pamela Lewis hopes that their team can start winning if they work on conditioning and the tactical part of the game.
“My expectation is that we are going to beat them. Plain and simple, we’re going to outwork them. I think we’re the kind of team that once we score one goal, we’ll score a bunch of goals. So, against LA Harbor, we’ll get back on track with a win,” said Lewis.
Fullerton’s next home game will be against LA Harbor on September 9th.
