Women’s soccer kicked off the weekend with a 3-0 shutout against visitor University of California at Santa Cruz and the men followed with a 4-2 win over Sonoma State on Oct. 20 at College Creek Field.
“Going in we knew we only had 3 games left,” said senior midfielder MaKenna Dunn. “We played like we had nothing to lose.”
The Lady Jacks didn’t take long to get on the board as they scored only three minutes into the game. Senior forward Jacquelyn Dompier was able to knock in a rebound off of Santa Cruz’s goalkeeper, Allie Mandel, into a wide open net to give the Jacks a 1-0 lead.
The Jacks then added another goal in the 27th minute as Dompier sent a cross in from the left side to senior midfielder Alex Jenkins for a one touch into the net.
“MVP goes to Jackie, she knew she wanted to score today” said Dunn.
Dompier, who was involved in all Lumberjack goals during the game, added her 2nd of the day at the 30:22 mark off a cross from sophomore midfielder Rose Harman.
The Green and Gold coasted for the rest of the game as they finished with a 3-0 victory, snapping from their two-game losing streak.
“Our focus was having fun,” Dompier said. “When we relax everything feels more natural and it allows you to find creative ways to score.”
While the Jacks offense was on display during the game, the defense also rose to the occasion as the Banana Slugs failed to record a single shot on goal during the second half.
Although it is late in the season, the Lady Jacks as a whole are beginning to click and sophomore midfielder Haley Miller credits their communication.
“We’re a family first off and we talk it out in a positive way,” said Miller. “It’s tough having only one week left with each other but we want to communicate what’s going right or wrong to finish the season strong.”
Both HSU soccer teams have eyes set on ending their 2018 season strong as the men followed up with a 4-2 win over visitors Sonoma State.
“All week we worked on run ins from behind and quick passes,” said junior defender Gus Baxter. “We want to play quickly and train how we play.”
The practice worked well as the Jacks buzzed early throughout the first half of the game. Gus Baxter was able to find the ball at the 21:28 mark to send a header in the goal, off of a pass from senior midfielder Daniel Allred.
Sonoma State’s Sebastian Santos tied the game eight minutes later as he was able to breakaway from Jack defenders.
“We have to be sharper in transition. We get caught up with what the ref is doing when we need to just stay sharp.” said sophomore forward Marco Silveira.
HSU responded seven minutes later as Marco Silveira was able to find the net from a rebound off a Sonoma defender to give the Jacks a 2-1 lead.
The Jacks weren’t finished yet as Dalton Rice capitalized off a corner kick with a header in the 40th minute to give HSU a 3-1 lead before entering the half.
“We stayed dangerous,” said Silveira.
Deep into the second half the Green and Gold finished with another goal at the 70:10 mark. Silveira kept the Jacks offense dangerous with a pass to freshman forward/midfielder Devin Hauenstein giving them a 4-1 lead.
Sonoma’s Sebastian Santos was left alone at the end of the game and knocked in his second goal of the match to set the final score at 4-2.
Women’s soccer will face Cal State Monterey Bay Thursday, Oct. 25 at 12:30 p.m. in another home game.
HSU Men’s Soccer will follow as they too face Cal State Monterey Bay at 3 p.m. at the College Creek Field.
