San Marcos girls soccer struggled to cap off scoring opportunities and battled to a 1-0 loss against Rio Mesa at Warkentin Stadium on Tuesday.
The Royals (1-3-1, 0-2 Channel League) remained winless in league action while the Spartans (5-1-2, 1-0-1) continued their strong start to the season.
It was a physical and competitive first half, with both defenses exerting their dominance.
Rio Mesa handled the ball for the majority of the first 10 minutes, but San Marcos’ back line stopped the Spartans before they could make a move into the box multiple times.
“We’ve got a young backline with Wendy (Guarneros) being a leader for the group,” Royals coach Brian Ziegenhagen said. “We’ve had different combinations but I think overall they responded with great character.”
The Royals became more aggressive later in the half but they were also unsuccessful in their scoring opportunities. They were awarded a free kick from outside the box and earned a corner kick late in the first but neither ended in a goal.
“We’re a team that likes to have the ball at our feet, we possess the ball a lot,” Ziegenhagen said. “We always hold the possession but we need to be a little bit more of a threat in the final third.”
Heading into halftime, the teams were knotted at 0-0.
Rio Mesa came out firing in the second half, earning three corner kicks in the first five minutes.
The early aggression paid off, as the Spartans poked a ball into the box and, after it slipped away from the San Marcos goalkeeper, Sophia Ramirez tapped it into the corner of the net for the first goal of the night.
The rest of the second half was relatively quiet until the final few minutes when the Royals earned a pair of corner kicks on back-to-back possessions.
However, neither of the set pieces ended in the equalizer, giving the Spartans the 1-0 victory.
“I think that we did a good job today but it’s one of those things where even though we get in behind (the defense), we still need to get into the box and threaten the goalie,” Ziegenhagen said.
The Royals still have two more games left this week, taking on Ventura at home on Thursday before turning around to face off against Dos Pueblos in Goleta on Saturday at noon.
“There is great character in this group of girls and they’re just learning,” Ziegenhagen said. “We just have to reinforce the positives and reinforce that we are doing the right things.
“We need to be better in some moments of the game but we are making sure that the communication is clear with the girls and letting them solve problems on their own while working it out together.”
