By Jessica Olvera, Assistant Sports Editor
Both soccer programs continue to struggle as they opened conference play this weekend with losses to Chico State Friday, the women falling 2-1 and the men 2-0. Both games were played at Dignity Health Sports Park’s main stadium.
The women drop to 1-4-1, not the start they wanted after last year’s 3-10-4 season. What made Friday’s loss particularly galling is the Toros entered the half with a lead for the
“This program has had a bad streak for a while and we’re working on it to where it’s going to change hopefully real soon,” head coach Marine Cano said. “We’re close and I feel for them [players]. They played as great as they could. It’s a Dominguez style and we never quit.”
With her goal, Kaemerly leads the Toros with three and has five in her career at CSUDH. Cano said you can expect more.
“She [Holly] has a bunch more goals. She’s finding her rhythm now and if you watch her on Sunday, she will be brilliant,” Cano said in regards to Kaemerle’s third goal scored in two games.
The Wildcats evened up the score in the 65th minute of the second half on an assisted goal from sophomore Antonia Diaz to freshman Emelie Peraza, who scored into the unattended low left corner of the net.
With the game looking like it was going to end in a tie, the Wildcats came back to win in the 84th minute of the game when senior Abbie Jones scored on an assisted goal from teammate Jordan Doukakis.
“It’s a heartbreaker,” Cano said. “I can’t ask any more from my kids than I did tonight. I thought they were brilliant start to end. The answer is to score goals when we need to do it so that we don’t let anybody come back like that.”
After the women’s game ended, the men graced the professional field to kick off their conference opener against the Wildcats. The Toros found themselves down 1-0 quickly when Chico State was able to thread a pass inside the box and convert the chance into a goal in the fourth minute of the game.
Chico State almost doubled its lead in the first half after Toros goalkeeper Julian Tafolla-Cisneros was beat but Toros defender Roberto Rivera dove with his body at full extension to block the shot with his back and saved the potential goal-scoring opportunity.
The Toros went into the half down 1-0, and immediately came strong right at the start of the second half. They created multiple chances early on and began pressuring Chico State, but in the 84th minute, they conceded a second goal from a breakaway. Tafolla-Cisneros got a hand on the ball but was not able to keep it from finding the back of the net as the final scoreline ended up being 2-0.
Both teams sit at 1-4-1 and face Stanislaus State at home on Sunday, with the women scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. and the men scheduled to play at 2 p.m.
