Lady Corsairs make Vaqueros walk the plank

Usually ominous weather and nearby skull flags are a foreboding sign, but it's apparent the Glendale Vaqueros have never watched a pirate movie after being routed by the Santa Monica Lady Corsairs, 7-0, a score more reminiscent to softball than soccer. 6 goals were scored in the first half with three coming off of dead ball situations. The scoring assault started just eight minutes into the game when Jennifer Hager headed a well placed corner into the back of the net.

The second goal came off another corner just 5 minutes afterwards when players scrambled in the box for position after the resulting header hit the cross bar. Sam Li was there to put it in.

"We've drilled it into them many a time," said Head Coach Aaron Benditson when asked if set pieces were a focus of practice. "To know you can score a goal off of those situations is a positive thing and big confidence builder for teams."

If scoring off set pieces builds confidence, then the Lady Corsairs must have bordered narcissism as they scored four more in the half.

A yellow card came in the 36th minute against the Glendale goalkeeper when she challenged a streaking Sarah Barrington and ended up handling the ball outside the penalty area in what was a big mental lapse for the most over-worked player of the opposing side. The resulting free kick by SMC freshman Gabriella Rodriguez ended predictably.

The Lady Corsairs showed mercy on the Vaqueros by playing the second half without starter Santos "Mercy" Tejada. Tejada is quickly emerging as a standout, scoring two goals in the game while out playing her defender in the first half.

Her first goal came at the 28th minute, with a shot from 20 yards out. Just three minutes later she scored on a well-placed crossed that avoided everything but her left foot. Even as she's missing goals she's scoring points, when what could have been a hat trick, went high over the cross bar but through the football uprights.

The Lady Corsairs highlighted their defense in the second half with a few memorable plays. The best scoring chance for the Vaqueros came in the seventy-fifth minute when a shot on goal was saved, one-handed, by outstretched backup SMC goalkeeper Lauren Reichardt.

The "Mercy-less" Corsairs scored their last goal of the match in the 83rd from a play that started off in the SMC back field. Great timed passes found a streaking Olivia Patterson who scored on the break away.

Even after the impressive performance Coach Benditson was critical of his team, feeling they underestimated the opponent early on and that there was a lack of concentration at points throughout the game. "Just playing a full-focused 90 minutes, in this game at least, we didn't achieve that," said Benditson.

Still, in the end the coach was a bit more gracious.

"When you're scoring a lot (of goals) and you're not conceding any; that's a good result," said Coach Benditson.

SMC came into this game with a shutout against Bakersfield and are undefeated in conference play with two wins and one tie. Their next game is Friday against Pierce College.