Season Kick Off: First Game, First Win
By Jahya Burke
The UC San Diego Women’s Club soccer team had a strong start to their season on Saturday October 3rd with an away game against UC Riverside that ended with a 3-2 win for the Tritons. Straight from the kick off the ladies squad showed dominance, successfully connecting long strings of passes past the opposing team. The first goal however, came not through effective possession, but from a fluke goal kick that landed straight at the feet of fearsome forward Laurel Bowling. Bowling swiftly fired the ball into the top left corner past the unsuspecting keeper to give San Diego a 1-0 lead. However, the lead could not be celebrated for long. After ten minutes of play the Triton squad lost some momentum; it seemed that the intensive dry heat was starting to take a toll. Riverside capitalized on this, scoring a goal off of a cross. The rest of the first half was a tiresome struggle between the two teams. In the second half UC San Diego came on strong once more. Promising freshman Elizabeth Blackwell sailed in a beautiful goal to the top left corner over the keeper’s head off of a goal kick by junior Jahya Burke. After that the pace picked up and Monica Cueves scored with a magnificent shot off of a ball that was crossed in by Andrea Morales and laid off by Olivia Hadidian. Towards the end of the half, Riverside had a rebuttal, bringing the score up to 3-2 with a shot from a through ball that bested the keeper in a 1 v 1. At the whistles final blow, the Tritons came away with a victory that gives hope for a strong season to come.
