By Becca Romo

Sports Editor

As the CSU Bakersfield Women’s Soccer team began their game against Eastern Washington on Friday, Sep. 6, they were hesitant and careful, testing out a new playing style to adapt to the opposing team.

Head Coach Sebastian Vecchio said, “We had to change the way that we play in the second half because we couldn’t play our style of soccer that we like to play.”

Although Eastern Washington came in strong, scoring the first goal of the game, CSUB scored right before halftime making it an equal 1-1 before the first half ended.

Scoring the first goal for CSUB was junior forward Eszter Toth, who was thinking she had to score her goal before halftime, and that is exactly what she accomplished.

“We can’t go into halftime one goal down,” said Toth. Nearing the 39^th minute, Toth’s goal was assisted by freshman midfielder Dome Rodriguez.

Many people in the crowd were not only there to support the women’s soccer team, but also to participate in the 7^th annual Rowdy Run.

Participating students, staff and faculty ran across the Main Soccer Field while being cheered on by student athletic teams.

Freshman Rowdy Run participant Skyler Beierle said she had a lot of fun joining Rowdy Run. “I did not expect to be running.”

Rowdy Run was brought to CSUB in 2012 by Dr. Thomas Wallace, Vice President of Student Affairs.

The purpose of the activity is to welcome freshman and transfer students. Associated Students Incorporated Executive President, Aaron Wan, invites all students to take part in Rowdy Run. He said this is his fourth year running.

After the half, the team was off to a good start, scoring early and giving CSUB a 2-1 lead. Junior defender Jordan Martinez scored the second goal of the game at the 54^th minute. She was assisted by freshman forward Darian Tatum.

“When I saw the opportunity and I shot, I just knew I had to have power behind it,” said Martinez.

Although they were doing well from the start, Eastern Washington pushed hard and scored two more goals in the second half. The winning goal was scored in the 72^nd minute of the game.

“It’s important we can’t let the frustration get to us right away,” said Martinez. The team made sure not to let the goal discourage them.

Toth said, “We know what we did wrong and we fix it the next time so it doesn’t happen again,” when referring to the last goal scored by Eastern Washington.

The Runners continued to fight till the end and had racked up two more shots, but their time had run out.

The final score of the game was 3-2 Eastern Washington, leaving the Runners with a loss on their record.