Lior Lipman--Asst Coach

The 2017 home opener for the Santa Monica College Women's Soccer team produced their most exciting match of the season. The Lady Corsairs took on the Vikings of Long Beach City College. The Vikings came out very aggressively from the start, playing a physical brand of ball that kept SMC off guard.  The physicality the Vikings displayed paid off for as Long Beach scored the first goal of the match in the 21st minute. That goal woke up the Lady Corsairs as SMC responded in the 25th minute Josseline Espinoza with a shot that hit off the post in the 25th minute.

Santa Monica settled into the match using solid passing to set up a one on one opportunity for Erika Pope. Unfortunately she was denied by a great save by the Long Beach keeper in the 40th minute. Shortly thereafter, it appeared Pope scored aother goal for the Santa Monica, but offsides was called as she scored.

Going into the half the score was 1-0 in favor of Long Beach. The second half started much like the first half for the Lady Corsairs as in the 47th minute Filippa Struxsjo missed just wide. The Corsairs were able to move the ball at will displaying intricate passing and dribbling.  In the 61st minute Joscelyn Diaz was able to pick up a free kick right outside the box. Antoinette Saldana stepped up to take the free kick and was able to hit the ball into the back of the net. With the score 1-1 the Lady Corsairs could feel that the match was in their hands. The Lady Corsairs kept putting wave after wave of pressure on to the Long Beach defense and looked like they had won the match with a wonderful strike courtesy of Filippa in the 86th minute. Again this goal was disallowed due to offsides. The Corsairs were unable to score again as the hard fought match ended as a draw with the score 1-1. 

Santa Monica returns to action September 1 against El Camino College at 3pm at Corsairs Stadium.