It was quite the run.
The Hawks women’s soccer team closed the regular season with back-to-back wins by a combined score of 12-0. It was enough to secure the No. 18 seed in the playoffs.
Then came the upset. Two second-half goals broke open a close game and sent 12th-seeded Feather River packing and the Hawks to the second round.
But the run ended in Folsom on Nov. 23. On a field still drenched from rain, against the defending state champions, the Hawks’ Cinderella story ended. A 4-0 loss to Folsom Lake in the second round of the NorCal Regional bracket of the California Community College Athletic Association playoffs. The slippery field added an extra layer of challenge, as if the No. 2 seed wasn’t enough.
On the other hand, it took one of the best JUCO teams in California to cool off Las Positas.
“The support and camaraderie and the level of everything just kept growing,” head coach Andrew Cumbo said, “and it peaked this week, which was exactly what you want to do as a coach and as a team.
“I’m sad as the season’s over. I wanted to have more. They wanted to have more. But it just didn’t work out for us.”The Hawks playoff journey started off on a much better foot than how it ended.
They traveled to Quincy, Calif., to take on Feather River College, the No. 15 seed in the NorCal Regionals. The Hawks, powered by a strong second half, came out on top 3-1.
Suzanne Hassan, Hawks freshman midfielder, was the star of the game, scoring the goal that put them up 2-1 and assisting the other two. Freshman defender Daisy De LA Torre and the team’s top goal scorer, sophomore midfielder Alyssa Houlihan, added to the score sheet.
It saw the Hawks complete their revenge of last season, where they lost a disappointing round one matchup 1-0 against Santa Rosa.
It set up a showdown with a women’s soccer power.
The damp field from the rain earlier that day made it difficult for both teams to control the ball effectively. But it did not stop Folsom Lake from scoring the first goal of the match in the 17th minute of the first half.
The Hawks relied heavily on key defensive strategies and focused mainly on counterattacks. Throughout the first 30 minutes of the game, there was constant back and forth as the teams traded attacks.
“They all showed that they were up to task,” assistant coach Carlos Moreno said, “and they were up to the challenge of facing a really good team.”
In the end, the depth of Folsom Lake proved to be a significant advantage. The Hawks gave up three more goals in the second half. Finally, they ran out of gas.
The Hawks understood the odds they faced. This wasn’t the first time the Hawks went toe-to-toe against a team like Folsom Lake. They lost 4-0 earlier in the year. What mattered most in moments like this was to play with all their heart and everything they had. That’s what they did.
“Of course results are disappointing,” Houlihan said. “Overall, I’m extremely proud of my team. We played the No. 2 seed defending state champions and held with them, only allowing one goal in the first half. Folsom Lake’s team is very disciplined and organized. We worked our hardest and played until the final whistle.”
Facing Folsom Lake a second time only meant the Hawks were familiar with just how aggressive they can be in terms of offensive play style and that if they want an answer to this they should emphasize a strong defensive strategy to stand a chance.
“We tried to do some things defensively in our tactics to try to make the space smaller in certain areas,” Cumbo explained.
The tactic the Hawks employed was to guard against Folsom Lake’s offensive pressure by packing in the defense. While most of the unit was focused on protecting, they’d pounce on offense when the opportunity presented.
“So we stacked the midfield a little bit. We knew that we were going to be defending in our own half a lot of the game,” Moreno said, “so we set up our right side to be our main outlet for attack and it created a lot of good opportunities in the first 30 minutes.”
It had been raining earlier throughout the day causing the grass across the field to become damp and the ball to become slightly slick and hard to maneuver around. It made it difficult for both teams to handle the ball effectively, causing passes to miss past their intended targets, forcing players to run more.
Chasing a quick and often errant ball added to the fatigue.
“Every pass just went that little bit quicker and a little bit farther,” Moreno said.
In addition to playing very defensively throughout most of the game, the Hawks relied heavily on counterattacks to score by making the most out of every possession they could snatch. Unfortunately, the Hawks couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities they made for themselves.
“When going from defense to offense, or vice versa, we need to make quicker decisions and take care of the ball,” Hawks freshman Kailey Matta said.
“We played a solid 90 minutes defensively and tried to capitalize on their mistakes for a chance to score. The team worked extremely hard and fought till the end.”
TOP PHOTO: The Hawks ended the season with a bang, making the second round of the playoffs. (Photo by Alan Lewis/ Special to The Express)
Francis Kennedy is the Sports Editor for The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter @kennedy_aloisf.
