OXY LOSES OPENER TO FINE-TUNED MASTER'S TEAM
LOS ANGELES — Usually the first game of the season is about getting a feel and working through some rust. But when your opponent has already played four matches, it can make finding a rhythm even more difficult.
The Occidental College women's soccer team ran into the Master's College on Labor Day, a team that was already two weeks into its game schedule, losing its first match of the 2012 season 3-0.
The Master's, an NAIA-scholarship team that competes in the Golden State Athletic Conference, scored two goals early in the first half and a third late in the second.
Shea Richards scored the first 17 minutes in and Jessica Long gave the Mustangs (3-1-1) an added cushion with an unassisted six minutes later.
Up until then, the Tigers enjoyed their fair share of the possession.
"We were able to control the ball an equal amount at the beginning of the match," Oxy women's soccer coach Colm McFeely said. "Then their fitness got to us a little bit and they capitalized with two goals in a six-minute span."
Tara Struiksma scored the third Master's goal on a scrambled play in the 71st minute.
But Oxy was never able to get much offense going.
Karina Garcia (Alhambra) and Michaela Tsuha (Honolulu) had the only two Tiger shots.
Tayler Renshaw (Phoenix) made seven saves in 90 minutes as the Tigers goalie.
Oxy plays its second match and final non-conference tune up at Soka at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
"If the early game promise can be developed for longer periods of play there is a good nucleus from which to build toward the first conference game 10 days from now," McFeely said.
