Women’s soccer rolled over the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes 3-0 Wednesday afternoon for the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) conference opener at Kellogg Stadium.
The Broncos’ dominance was evident with a total of 22 shots, 10 of which were on target. The defense only allowed the Coyotes two shots, both in the first half.
“It was a great game. The great thing about this group is that all the information we give them, they try to apply it and that’s all you can ask your team to do,” head coach Jay Mason said. “The effort and the energy, you can’t supplement that with anything else. So I think for us, we made a point of starting the conference play with a win.
(Hector Amezquita | The Poly Post)
“I think they have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder from last year. We have something to prove, so I was really proud of the effort and the way we went about the game because like I told them before, I want this to be the toughest place where teams come and play. I think they did that today, and the result sort of speaks for itself.”
The first shot of the match came early in the first half after junior midfielder Jessica Llamas’ shot, but it went out right of the goal.
Minutes later, the Broncos broke through and got on the scoreboard after junior forward Taylor Scott assisted sophomore forward/midfielder Allyssa Larkin.
“I’ve been more confident this year. With the two up front, we’ve been able to play off of each other a lot better, our offense has just been going at it and (we’ve been) having a lot of fun trying to find the back of the net,” Larkin said.
As the minutes went by, the Broncos continued knocking on the door.
First, with a shot by junior midfielder Ally Lacarra-Platt that went out right, followed by another shot by junior defender Taylor Rasmussen that was saved by the Coyotes’ goalkeeper.
Two minutes later, junior midfielder Alyssa Carthan passed the ball to Scott, who sent the ball to the back of the net for the Broncos’ second goal.
With the clock winding down, the Broncos were able to put up two more shots, one from Larkin and the second one by senior forward Shayna Larson.
In the first five minutes of the second half, the Broncos’ high pressing almost paid dividends with a third goal with three consecutive shots.
The first shot came from senior defender Cassidy Overstreet whose shot went just out on top, followed by Scott, and lastly by sophomore midfielder Jazmin Duran.
Following Duran’s shot, senior forward Ambria Pogue and Scott, both in search of a third goal, put up two shots each but were denied.
Despite not finding a third goal, the Broncos continued pressing the Coyotes high in their field and 20 minutes before the end of the game Larkin stepped into the box and crossed the ball to Pogue, who tapped in the ball for the third goal of the game.
“We came out really well. Last year, coming off of a losing season, this was our first game last year too and we lost to them. So we wanted to come out and prove a point and I think we did that,” Pogue said.
The Broncos’ hunger for more goals was evident with back-to-back shots from freshman Cassie Snow, but the Coyotes’ goalkeeper denied both shots.
Minutes later, Larson also had two shots, but was denied by the goalkeeper once again.
After a convincing win, the Broncos will look to keep their momentum going and look for another win, as they travel to San Diego to face the UC San Diego Tritons at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.