Monarchs dominated by Lancer offense

The Valley women’s soccer team has yet to win an away game.

By Sean Scully, Staff Writer

Despite their efforts, Valley College was unable to overcome Pasadena City College’s unstoppable offense last Friday and lost their third straight away game 6-2.

The Monarchs (2-3-2) were down 3-0 coming out of the first half with only two shots on goals. Valley lacked offensive pressure and made a lot of defensive mistakes early. Pasadena City College (3-4-1) dominated the first 45 minutes with 14 shots on goal with five corner kicks.

“Don’t put your heads down! We need to go back out there and believe in ourselves,” Associate head coach Melissa Fernandez shouted passionately during halftime. “We need confidence, we need leadership, we need to be brave, and we need to attack!”

Valley opened up the second half with two goals — an unassisted free kick by Angie Diaz and a breakaway liner to the corner from Melanie Velasquez. A glimmer of hope for a Monarch comeback began to rise around the 20-minute mark of the second half.

“I want to see some urgency,” screamed Assistant Coach Stacey Rodwell from the sidelines. “You gotta want it!”

As the intensity and aggressiveness accelerated in the second half for the Monarchs, it was not enough to stomp out the Lancer’s fiercely competitive offense.

Shortly after the second half kicked off, Monarch Emily Arzeta and Lancer Gabby Morales were both given yellow cards for fouling each other while trying to make a play on the ball as it rolled out of bounds. Thirty seconds later, Arzeta was given her second yellow card for knocking another Pasadena player to the ground, resulting in a red card which disqualified her from continuing the rest of the match. Valley played the rest of the match with one less player.

Pasadena City College was quick to extinguish Valley's flame of momentum. Goals by Lancers’ Devin Zamora, Athena Vournas, and Meghan Schmidt secured the win for PCC and erased any chance of victory for the Monarchs.

Just before the game’s final whistle, PCC’s Meghan Schmidt recorded her second hat trick getting a lead pass from teammate Athena Vournas before stopping on a breakaway to drive a high shot into the upper net.

The Lancers peppered 23 shot attempts and nearly scored on a few other opportunities. PCC starting goalie Stevie Mancillas made two saves in the first half while reserve Jesua Garcia made four saves.

Valley’s offense struggled only to fire eight shots on goals while Monarch goalie Kristen Lum made seven saves throughout the game.

“That was the poorest game we’ve played in a very long time and I expect more out of us as a team and coaching staff,” admitted Head Coach Greg Venger after the match. “We are not the team you saw here today.”

The Valley College women’s soccer team has lost three of their last games and has yet to win an away match bringing their record to 2-3-2.

Valley will face Los Angeles City College at home at 3:00 pm.