The City College women’s soccer team continued its undefeated home streak Tuesday afternoon with a 3-0 shutout against Oxnard College.
The Vaqueros had previously beat the Condors 5-1 on an away game, and Oxnard opened the match at La Playa Stadium with stiff pressure.
“I thought the girls played very well,” said head coach John Sisterson. “The opposition was physical and that’s what we expected. They handled themselves very well—passed the ball around nicely.”
The first half seemed to be going in favor of the Condors until the 15th minute.
Sophomore forward Blayne Shoffit took a shot from 10 yards which was deflected by Oxnard’s keeper and bounced back to Shoffit ricocheting it into the back of the net.
The opponent kept City College on its toes and held pressure despite being down a goal. City College felt the pressure as their passes were incomplete and were struggling to connect.
The tables soon began to turn in favor of the home team.
Sophomore forward Josefine Von Der Burg beat three defenders in the 41st minute. Von Der Burg stuck the ball in between Condor keeper’s legs and straight it into the goal.
In the final 45 minutes City College’s offense kept the ball on its side of the field. Oxnard was quick to cut off any attacking movement from City College.
Many opportunities were presented to the home team, but a majority of its shots were sent right into the opponent’s keeper’s hands.
City College had a goal annulled in the 63rd minute. Freshman forward Katherine Sheehy was running towards a ball in the air when she collided with the keeper who lost the ball that went into the goal.
The pressure from Oxnard came to a close but began to get physical.
“It was as expected,” said sophomore defender Stephanie Rodriguez. “We knew they were going to be physical.”
Sophomore midfielder Abigail Guillen found herself one-on-one with the keeper in the 69th minute but was unsure if she was offsides or not, so she did not take the shot.
Freshman defender Gardenia Maya finalized the scoreboard in the 73rd minute with a corner kick.
“I’ve scored like that before, but on this one I tried to put it in the box but it just happened to curve in,” said Maya. “They were really aggressive but we were just the better team today.”
When asked about the upcoming playoffs, coach Sisterson said, “I’m thinking about Ventura Friday night now. That’s the only thing I’m thinking of. That’s what we’ve got to focus on and don’t look any further ahead.”
City College will play against the Ventura Pirates, 7:30 p.m. Friday, at La Playa Stadium.