Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme) – Spear Reporter
Photo courtesy of the Spartan Daily, Mathew Bejarano
San Jose State women’s soccer played UCSB yesterday and tied 1-1 in its first home match of the season.
The Spartan’s first match of the season against Santa Clara on the last Thursday resulted in 2-1.
Offensively SJSU (0-1-1, 0-0-0 MW) brought the pressure as less than five minutes into the match they got a corner that was cleared by the Gauchos (1-0-1, 0-0-0 BW).
That pressure paid off when junior forward Bella Flocchini took a turnover and scored off it making it 1-0 in the 10th minute.
The hot start for SJSU women’s soccer gave way to a push back from the Gauchos, but despite registering five shots they were only able to get one on goal.
All was going well until a miscommunication between Pernot and sophomore midfielder Tatiana Cunningham lead to a turnover. The player to convert on the turnover was senior midfielder Lauren Helwig tying the game up at one.
The two teams fought to a tie at the end of the first half with SJSU leading in shots 6-5.
To start the second half, UCSB put in senior goalkeeper Taylor Little to replace junior goalkeeper Sabrina Hinz.
Flocchini who was all over the field hit the post on a shot from far out to start out the second half.
Similar to the first half SJSU women’s soccer got off to a quick start, but this time could not get one past Little.
The Gauchos met a brick wall themselves as Pernot locked it down on her end making two saves.
At around the 70th minute mark of the match junior forward Kennedy Mayo had a great look as she just missed a open net from a tough angle. Senior midfielder Cynthia Flores got a shot on, but sophomore defender Kate Killer blocked the shot keeping the game tied.
“In our locker room talk our coach Tina wanted us to press for the first ten minutes because we knew that Santa Barbara liked to play in the back,” said Flocchini after the game.
SJSU women’s soccer will travel to the East Coast to play Northeastern on Thursday at 3 p.m.