Barragan’s two goals helps City College blank rival

Freshman forward Stephanie Barragan (10 - red) manuevers the ball away from the Skyline defense to score what was the fifth and final goal for City College at home game on Sept. 30. in San Francisco. Women's soccer team won the home game 5-0, leading them to a 7-1 overall standing. CLARIVEL FONG / THE GUARDSMAN

Rams improve to 7-1 against Trojans

By Lucas Almeida
The Guardsman

City College’s women’s soccer team has never felt itself intimidated playing against the Skyline College Trojans, even when that team is coming off a six-game winning streak.

The City College Rams (7-1, 4-0) increased their undefeated conference record and their winning streak to five straight victories as they shut out the Trojans 5-0 on Sept. 30.

Head coach Gabe Saucedo who is in his third year of coaching the team believes working hard during practice on speed of play and physical endurance were crucial to winning the game.

“We really focused this week on having a lot of energy during practice and staying focused,” Saucedo said. “Just playing one-two touch soccer and working a lot on fitness helped us a lot in playing faster soccer and having a good fit team.”

“We had a game plan going in and we executed the game plan very well. I’m very proud of the team,” he said.

Sophomore midfielder Nichole Caiocca was the highlight of the first half with one goal and one assist.

Nine minutes into the first half, Caiocca was persistent on the offense as she sent a perfect assist to freshman forward Stephanie Barragan who scored the Rams’ first goal of the afternoon.

Despite their early goal, the Rams kept playing aggressively pressuring their opponent’s defense.

The payoff of playing with a strong offense came when Caiocca launched a missile, giving no chance to the Trojan’s goalie freshman Dana Alazzeh, thus extending the Rams’ lead.

Caiocca was happy she performed her role and said she didn’t worry much about Skyline’s undefeated conference record.

“We’ve been trying to play smart and quick and my role today was to turn and shoot and it worked out,” Caiocca said. “We really just tried to execute our game plan against them and not really worry too much about their past.”

The Trojans started the second half threatening to score but the Rams’ defense came out very strong.

With their campuses are only nine miles apart, a fierce rivalry has developed between the two colleges. The second half was marked with hard fouls and both teams fighting for the ball.

At the 56-minute mark, freshman forward Antonella Carrera battled for the ball, scoring the Rams’ third goal of the game. But City College was not yet done.

Giving the Trojans no time to breathe, sophomore defender Gail Basett sent an accurate long pass crossing the whole field to sophomore forward Tera Piserchio who put the ball in the back of the net just three minutes later. It was her ninth goal of the season.

One minute later, Skyline College tried to react pushing a counter attack, but failed when Trojan sophomore forward Alexis Cuellar’s shot was an easy save for freshman goalkeeper Lilly Garza.

The Rams still had time to score one more goal and seal the game when Stephanie Barragan made a quick turn and struck the ball on the right top corner. It was her second goal of the game.

Even though the Rams won convincingly, Barragan knew Skyline was a tough team. “We knew Skyline was going to be hard but we played focused and did everything we needed to do,” Barragan said.

The Rams will look to maintain their undefeated conference record when they face the Ohlone College Renegades in the next home game on Oct. 4. Kickoff will be at 1:30 p.m.