Saddleback College women’s soccer team takes tie against the Santa Ana Dons

No.20, sophomore, forward, Captain Danyelle Allen gets shot off being defended by Santa Ana player (Photograph/Dominic D. Ebel)

Saddleback College women’s soccer team slouched in its Orange Empire Conference match up against the Santa Ana Dons on Friday, Oct. 3.

The Gauchos tied the Dons 1-1 in the game, their second consecutive draw.  Saddleback is regrouping to do better, as their play was weak resulting in a poor performance.

“We didn’t have a good game,” said head coach BJ McNicol.  “Hopefully we get back on track.  This wasn’t a normal performance for us.”

Santa Ana’s first and only goal came from a strike just outside the box at the 10-minute mark.  Saddleback’s goal came just seconds later, when sophomore forward and captain Danyelle Allen made a quick move to the right and placed a shot perfectly past the goaltender to tie the score 1-1 at the 11-minute mark of the game.

“It was a tough game, but we worked hard,” said sophomore keeper Alexandria Scott.

Saddleback had many good opportunities to score. Allen hit the post several times. Santa Ana did a good job on defense, as their halfbacks hustled on defense to contest every Saddleback shot attempt on their goal.

“We should have scored on the post shots,” McNicol said. “I thought we were going to be better than their girls.”

Saddleback is still ranked as a top caliber team and they moved up a notch in the national ranking to No. 18 in the nation. Despite not playing up to their potential in this game, the Gauchos overall record is 7-1-2 and their OEC record is 3-1-2.

“I never saw someone just take the game over,” McNicol said. “We are missing a couple of key players.”

The Gauchos players who were injured for the game were starters Devin Scelsi and her sister Danielle Scelsi.

Saddleback will need to be at full strength for their upcoming away game at 3 p.m. against Irvine Valley College this Friday. The Lasers are 6-2-2 overall and 3-1-2 in conference. The game will be a battle for third place in the Orange Empire Conference.

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