By Elisa Fuentes

Sports Reporter

Anticipation built as the game neared against the UC Riverside Highlanders, a team CSUB Women’s Soccer had previously lost to. A win sounded sweet and promising. Head Coach Sebastian Vecchio said about game three, “We are where we need to be.”

The Runners started the season with many new faces on the team after losing nine seniors. That did not deter them from winning their first game against Pacific, 2-1. Unfortunately, their second game ended in a 0-1 upset against Idaho. However, this defeat did not hinder expectations that game three would be a new game, and a chance to win was still in the air.

The Runners proved on the field they were where they needed to be, as they started the game against the Highlanders with an extra force and sense of determination. With both teams making great efforts on defense, and their offense  trying to make shots into goals, the Runners came in with a lead. Senior Sophie Freeman was up for a free kick in the first half, and passed the ball to her teammate, freshman Chelsee Duran, who drove the ball into the net.

A win for the Runners looked imminent until the last minutes of the game when the Highlanders finally took a shot that amounted to a goal. The game was tied 1-1 and moved into two ten-minute sessions of sudden death play. The eagerness to see who would win the game grew as the minutes wound down. Both teams put forth whatever last bits of momentum they had, trying to mount their efforts toward a victory.

In the 105^th minute of the game, a victor was declared. An assist from senior Aryana Harvey gave freshman Jaden Skinner the opportunity to score the game-winning goal for the Runners.

The Runners were surely in the right spot to win against Riverside, and Jaden Skinner agreed. “We definitely came into the game ready. We fell asleep a little at the end, obviously because they scored, but I’m definitely proud of my team because we played really strong,” said Skinner.

Their goalie, junior Andrea Neves, also agrees. She said, “I totally think we’re where we need to be, but I also think we still have some things we need to work on. And we are working on them, and are getting better every day.”

About the game, Neves said, “We had a really good game. It was hard for us in the game, but I think we did good for getting the win against Riverside. But after the game, we always think about the next game and are always working hard for the next one.”

After a game like this one, the rest of the season seems like it will be exciting, or at least Skinner thinks so. “I’m really excited for this season. I’m really proud of this team. We’ve grown so much together and mesh really well.”