April 11, 2009

On Saturday, April 4th, the USF Dons women's soccer team narrowly lost against the California Storm, a semi-pro team and developmental team for the newly formed Women's Professional Soccer league. The Storm found the back of the net midway through the second half after being awarded a penalty kick.

"Its unfortunate that we conceded the penalty kick. We had created many chances in the first half, and if we had found the back of the net on a few of those chances, the result of this game would have been more favorable. Overall though, we knocked the ball around very well, were dangerous in the attack and very organized defensively," said assistant coach Maite Zabala.

On Wednesday, April 8th, the Don's took on the nationally ranked Cal Bears from across the bay, resulting in a 1-3 loss. The Bears were first on the board midway though the first half. The Dons quickly answered with a goal of their own by freshman Megan Bucci off a cross by teammate Lauren Maris. The final score ended up 1-3 in favor of the Bears who scored twice in the second half; one conceded off a penalty kick.

Cal head coach Neil McGuire had this to say about the Dons, "San Francisco played hard and gave us a few problems that we had to work hard to solve. They have improved a great deal since our game this time last year."

Assistant coach Maite Zabala commented, "Overall we are quite happy with what we got out of this game. The team responded to Cal's goal with a goal of our own, just the response that a coach loves to see. Games like today give us the experience that we need as such a young squad. With such a limited roster size, everyone gets loads of playing time at a very high level, which in the long run is invaluable for a growing program. I thought the athletes did very well."

Next the Dons take on The Alberta Soccer Association from Canada. The match is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday, April 15th at 11am.