The Hornets women’s soccer team fell to Saddleback College 1-0 on an 86th minute header by Gaucho midfielder Sabrina Garrido.

A tightly-contested match from the beginning, each team struggled to find any sort of rhythm when they had the ball in each other’s zones.

Perhaps the Hornets best chance to score was in the 78th minute with the score still knotted at 0-0.

A cross by midfielder Haylee Goaring was headed by forward Celene Medina toward the top left corner of the goal when goalkeeper Angelica Ramos jumped and was just able to punch the ball over the net.

Although the game ended with a loss for the Hornets, there proved to be some silver linings in defeat.

“The last time we played them it was 4-0,” said Hornet head coach Pam Lewin. “We were clearly in it, and we made one mistake defensively that allowed them to score a goal late in the second half.”

Despite the defensive miscue late in the game, the Hornets were able to find more positives at the end of the contest.

“I think that we made a switch [defensively], we marked out a couple of their players and that made a difference by shutting them out with their team [on offense], we passed the ball well and communicated better than we have been in the past,” said Coach Lewin.

Sophomore keeper Mallory Van Voorhis said she was proud of the way her team was able to stay in the game and not be pushed around by the Gauchos.

“Saddleback has always been a challenge for us just because of how physical they are, but I believe we came out with just as much physicality as they did and that helped us out a lot,” said Van Voorhis.

When asked what her team needed to improve on before their next game, Van Voorhis laughingly replied with, “Scoring.”

Both Coach Lewin and Van Voorhis remained positive and said the plan is to work on their “offensive attack” and that after some more work on it in practice they’ll be able to get some shots in frame and be able to get some goals on the board.

Fullerton was narrowly edged out of shots-on-goal 8-7, which shows they had their chances.

The Hornets (5-9-2, 4-4-1) hope to get back on track next Friday when they play the Santiago Canyon Hawks (13-1-1) on their home field Oct. 30, at 3 p.m.