UCSD women’s club soccer team took on local rival USD with the hopes of emerging with a win since last year’s tied scrimmage. In the first half, UCSD maintained the majority of possession with multiple breakaways and goal scoring opportunities from the forwards and midfielders. UCSD women’s club soccer defenders played very offensively and aggressively with outside defenders Michaela Selby and Risa Saulano pushing high to assist with the attack toward the goal. Center defenders Allie Spong and Erika Braun also took on opportunities to dribble and made their way multiple times to the final third of the field. USD primarily focused their attacks in the first half using their outside defenders and midfielders feeding through-balls to the outside forwards or long-balling over UCSD’s defensive line in hopes of breaking through UCSD's defensive line. However, most long-balls found their way into the hands of goalie Allison Lee, who returned freekicks that would reach all the way to the second half of the field; creating a quick counter attack for forwards and midfielders Daisy Samuelson, Adelka Hancova, Madeline Woo, Roni Yonce, Sara Aguilar, Maia Chareonsuphiphat, Kirsten Whetstone and Elli Sandford. Even with all these attempts, UCSD ended the first half with a tie.

The second half of the game began with both teams hungry for a win. USD decided to move one of their tall and physical defenders in the defensive mid position in hopes of disrupting the possession that UCSD had in the first half. It was then back and forth between the UCSD and USD teams, both creating opportunities for the ball to get from one goal to the other. On a corner kick, USD perfectly centered the ball in the box with all players scrambling to get a touch. USD came out on top with this opportunity, setting the score to 1-0 with USD taking the lead. Despite this setback, UCSD women’s club soccer did not give up. 

A few substitutions were made with player Elayna Osterman playing in the attacking mid, and Naomi Araujo placed in the defensive mid position. Forward wing players Adelka Hancova, Roni Yonce and Sierra Jordan-Huffman consistently continued to attack on the outsides, with center midfielders waiting for the cross or rebound. Multiple attempts were made by Reese Flinn to shoot from the top of the box; along with attempts by Daisy Samuelson’s finishing shots that would glance off the USD’s goalies hands. Eventually, a goal was made by UCSD, however, the assistant referee flagged an offside play since one of UCSD’s players tipped the ball from a non offside player to an offside player during the play. With so many close goal scoring opportunities, it was clearly visible that things were getting more and more heated between the two teams. Calls by the center referee for fouls were made left and right, with both teams becoming more and more aggressive as the game was coming to a close. Finally, Elayna Osterman scored a goal for UCSD and the score returned 1-1! The center referee blew his whistle and that was the end of the game.

A large crowd had come to watch this local rivalry as well as one of UCSD women’s club soccer star defenders, Michaela Selby. As an outside defensive mid, Michaela Selby is truly a player that will be missed by the UCSD women’s club soccer team. During the majority of this season and previous seasons, Michaela was a powerful force in the left outside defensive position, stopping a multitude of plays on the outside and consistently distributing balls to her outside forwards and center mids. Her most inspiring attribute is that she never gives up during the game. Michaela would play entire games and would never showcase signs of fatigue or an attitude of relinquishment. The UCSD women’s club soccer team will miss Michaela Selby as she is a core part of the team and an inspiration to all her teammates.