The Lady Corsairs Attempt to take on Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros

Santa Monica Corsair Paulina Salas (4)(right) attempts to gain possession of the ball from Santa Barbara Vaqueros Viana Isabella (11)(left) during a match on the Corsair Field at Field at Santa Monica College, Calif. on October 3rd, 2017. The Corsairs won 2-0. Photo by: Elena Rybina

Santa Monica Corsair Daysi Serrano (23)(right) tries to keep control of the ball against Santa Barbara Vaqueros Amber Mulligan (13)(left) during a match on the Corsair Field at Field at Santa Monica College, Calif. on October 3rd, 2017. The Corsairs won 2-0. Photo by: Elena Rybina

Santa Monica Corsair Antoinette Saldana (6)(right) fights for possession of the ball against Santa Barbara Vaqueros Amber Mulligan (13)(left) during a match on the Corsair Field at Field at Santa Monica College, Calif. on October 3rd, 2017. The Corsairs won 2-0. Photo by: Elena Rybina

Daysi Serrano (23) prepares to headbutt the ball during the soccer game between the Santa Monica College Corsairs and Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros at the Corsair Stadium at Santa Monica College's Main Campus in Santa Monica, Calif on Tuesday, October 3rd 2017. The final score was 2-0 Vaqueros. (Photo by: Thane Fernandes)

On Tuesday afternoon, at Corsairs field, the Santa Monica College Women's Soccer team (6-3-2) took on the number-one ranked, Vaqueros of Santa Barbara City College (9-0-1). The lady Corsairs, who have effectively used their speed as a weapon, found themselves in a peculiar position against SBCC. They matched the Corsairs step for step. Santa Barbara scored its first goal in the twelfth minute. Even with all their persistent efforts to score a counter goal, Santa Monica simply could not stop turning the ball over. The Corsairs failed to break through the Vaqueros' stout defense and maintain possession long enough to challenge the SBCC goalie.

At the end of the first half, SBCC led 1-0, and the crowd wondered about the adjustments SMC would make at halftime. Only down a single goal, there was a reason to be optimistic, but less than two minutes into the second-half, the Vaqueros ended any and all comeback expectations for the Corsairs. SBCC scored their second goal. Traffic crossed in front of SMC goalie, Emma Romero, leaving the sophomore goalkeeper helpless as the ball rolled very slowly into the back of the net. Unable to challenge Santa Barbara from anywhere on the field due to a seemingly endless string of turnovers, the lady Corsairs only had a single shot on goal. Santa Monica's lone shot caromed off the upper-right part of the goal, leaving SMC feeling flat out unlucky.

The Corsairs end the game 2-0. If Santa Monica could take anything positive away from this match, it would be that the Women’s team now has a true measuring stick to see where they stand against the top competition.