Overtime becoming norm for women’s soccer

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Author: Tim O’Donnell

After a fast-paced start to the season, the Occidental women’s soccer team took their first real hits of the season with hard losses last week to Cal Lutheran and La Verne.

The Tigers (3-3-1 overall, 2-2 SCIAC) began their summer training earlier than usual this year, a sign of their newfound focus and commitment for the upcoming season. The preseason included a trip down south to San Diego, where the black and orange fell to San Diego Christian and drew with Soka.

The women returned home ready to play, winning their next three matches that included a 5-0 thrashing of Whittier and a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Pomona-Pitzer.

Head coach Colm McFeely attributes the strong start to the players’ communication and cohesiveness.

“I think we’ve got a group of young women who have come together quickly and enjoy working with each other,” he said. “The upperclassmen were in contact with the incoming first-years prior to the season, building bonds and communication.”

However, the Tigers could not translate their early season success into another win on Wednesday night, as Cal Lutheran (6-3 overall, 3-1 SCIAC) dealt Occidental its first conference loss of the season in Thousand Oaks. Despite falling behind 1-0 early in the second half, the Tigers kept attacking and eventually broke through in the 89th minute on Julie Khil’s (first-year) third goal of the young season, sending the game into overtime.

After a scoreless first overtime, controversy struck in the second when captain Elissa Minamishin (senior) took a hard hit from a Regal defender just outside the box and no whistle sounded. In the following seconds, Cal Lutheran’s Kristina Hulse (senior) sealed the victory with a goal in the 112th minute.

Occidental played the reigning champions evenly for 112 minutes on paper. Some players believe they even outplayed Cal Lutheran for a solid portion of the match just a year after losing 4-0 and 1-0, respectively, to the squad.

“We definitely dominated for much of the game,” midfielder Michaela Tsuha (sophomore) said. “It showed our progress from last year.”

Back home at Patterson Field on Saturday night, the Tigers once again found themselves in an intense battle, this time against La Verne (5-4-1 overall, 2-1-1 SCIAC). The black and orange controlled the ball for most of the game and had several opportunities to score, but Khil narrowly missed on three separate chances during regulation and Kylie Takafuji’s (first-year) 85th minute attempt fell victim to a save by Leopard goalie Delaney Pacheco (junior).

When the whistle sounded at the end of the second half, the scoreboard still read nil-nil, which meant another tiring and dramatic overtime period for Occidental. In the 102nd minute, Pacheco again robbed Takafuji of a potential game-winner with a jump save in the top-left corner of the net.

Five minutes later in the second overtime, La Verne’s Katherine Careaga (senior) found a loose ball in the penalty box and notched the 1-0 difference maker.

It was a difficult week for the black and orange, but the players refuse to look at the two defeats as a detriment to the season and instead focus on positives.

“[The losses] are something to learn from, and we’ve played really well,” midfielder McCaully Patch (sophomore) said. “We’re really playing to the end, and it’s giving us more confidence.”

Senior goalkeeper Tayler Renshaw also has a positive outlook for the remainder of the season, despite the increased talent of conference opponents.

“We can expect some tough battles coming up, but in the end, we have playoffs in our minds for the future,” she said via e-mail.

The women travel to Chapman (5-4 overall, 2-2 SCIAC) today at 4 p.m.

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