The Mills College soccer team began their season Saturday with a tough 4-1 loss against Simpson University’s Lady Redhawks.
The Cyclones started strong in the first half, evening the score 1-1 in the fifteenth minute of the game. However, Simpson eventually prevailed, beating the Cyclones 4-1.
Despite losing, many players remained optimistic on the prospect of a new season. “I think for our first game of the season, we had a really good game,” said freshwoman Rebecca Williams.
Junior Stephanie Gomez also felt positive about the Cyclones’ effort. “I think that we played awesomely. We were really aggressive and we’ll beat them next time,” she said.
This was the first game of the season for the Cyclones, compared with Simpson, who is well into their season and playing their seventh match of the year. As a result of this late start, the Cyclones struggled to keep up with the Lady Redhawks in the second half of the game.
| Mills College 1 Simpson University 4 First half – 1, Simpson, H. Davidson (J. Quintana), 12th minute. 2, Simpson, K. McLaughlin (Unassisted), 27th minute. Second half – 3, Simpson, K. McLaughlin (K. Decker), 68th minute. 4, Simpson, K. McLaughlin (K. Decker), 83rd minute. |
“We just need to work on our fitness,” said Williams.
Coach Colette Bowler added, “Fitness needs to step up a bit. It’s hard, though, because we’ve only had a week and a half to prepare.”
At the end of the game, though, the Cyclone sideline showed little sign that the team suffered a defeat. “I’m so excited,” said sophomore Kristen Hopkins. “I really think we’ll get better. We now know what to expect.”
“We did a lot of great stuff,” added Bowler. “There is a lot of new talent this year. Next time it’s going to be a different story.”
Senior Megan Burke O’Connor agreed. “I expect the team to do twice a good as we did last year.”
