Bakersfield College’s soccer team suffered its first loss against a conference rival when its was beaten 2-1 by L.A. Pierce College on Oct. 16.
The loss ended a three-winning streak for the Renegades who had defeated L.A. Mission 4-0 Oct. 6, L.A. Valley 6-0 Oct. 9, and Citrus 2-0 Oct. 13.
BC’s defense had allowed no goals in the last five games.
“I’ve been really happy with how they [the defense] have progressed during the season,” said coach Scott Dameron.
Dameron said that the team, “Can play very good teams and still do well, we just need to convert our chances. That is what we need to work on.”
For this game, L.A. Pierce and Bakersfield were ranked first and second in the Western State Conference Southern Division.
BC’s Brittany Hunt had the first chance to open the score in the first minutes after she won a rebound, by the left side of L.A. Pierce box, and ran the ball deeper. Left with little angle, she crossed her shot that passed inches off the post.
For the first minutes, Dameron was using a 4-5-1 formation trying to read their rival’s moves and focusing on keeping possession on midfield.
After the 25th minute, Dameron sent Hunt from midfield to play up front accompanying BC’s top scorer Terryn Soelberg.
“We were defending fine, but we weren’t attacking much, that’s why we changed formation,” said Dameron.
However, the Brahmas were the first to score. During the 30th minute, after a corner kick, L.A. Pierce worked the ball well leaving Rachel Kove free of mark to take a shot that went to the right-top angle of BC’s goal, putting L.A. Pierce ahead 1-0.
BC reacted with a counter-attack that put Soelberg in front of L.A. Pierce’s goalkeeper, but her shot wasn’t on target.
The first half ended with L.A. Pierce leading 1-0, but with the Renegades with possession and dominating the game.
The second half, BC was looking in better shape, but a circumstantial play put L.A. Pierce 2-0. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the game when the Renegades really pushed the Brahmas into their own field. In the 36th minute, Aly Rosales took a corner kick that found Torree Soelberg, but her header went to the crossbar.
Three minutes later, after a great play by Hunt, Terryn had another chance and this time she put the ball in. After BC’s goal, the Brahmas played more defensively for time to run out. BC is 6-5-1 overall, 4-1-1 in WSC.