Offense Comes Alive as MSJC Beats Imperial

MSJC's Emily Gonzalez had a goal and three assists on Friday as the Lady Eagle soccer team won at home 5-2 over Imperial Valley. (DeeAnn Bradley/MSJC)
MSJC's Emily Gonzalez had a goal and three assists on Friday as the Lady Eagle soccer team won at home 5-2 over Imperial Valley. (DeeAnn Bradley/MSJC)
Posted: Nov 19, 2018

The MSJC women's soccer team saw their offense come to life in the second half Friday as they scored five times in the final 45 minutes to beat visiting Imperial Valley 5-2 in a PCAC Cross-over match.

The Lady Eagles fell behind quickly as IVC was able to score the day's first goal just five minutes into the match to grab a quick 1-0 lead. The teams then settled into what looked like it was going to be a defensive match as neither team scored the rest of the first half. The second half however, was a different story as MSJC came out firing and scored in the 47th minute when Emily Gonzalez jump started her big day with a goal on an assist from Mackenzie Berringer to even the score at 1-1. Imperial answered quickly reclaiming the lead just one minute later to take back the momentum and make it 2-1 in favor of the Arabs. From there the Lady Eagles seized control of the match as they scored four unanswered goals in the final 38 minutes.

MSJC tied the match when Ajahni McClendon scored in the 52nd minute with a helper from Gonzalez, and then took the lead in the 62nd minute when Heather Furuya scored when she was also assisted by Gonzalez and the Lady Eagles had the 3-2 lead. Furuya would then extend the lead in the 82nd minute as she scored her second goal once again assisted by Gonzalez to make it 4-2. Just one minute later MSJC would put the match out of reach as Miriam Mota made it 5-2with a goal in the 83rd minutes with an assist from Furuya.

The win for MSJC came after a pair of draws in their last two contests. The Lady Eagles played Southwestern to a 1-1 tie on the previous Friday and also had a draw with Norco on Tuesday at 2-2.

The Lady Eagles who are now 4-6-5 on the season will resume play in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference North Division on Friday when they travel to Oceanside to take on MiraCosta. MSJC is currently in second place in the PCAC North standings at 2-1-2, MiraCosta is 2-4 in the league standings. MSJC defeated MiraCosta the first time around in Menifee on September​ 14th 2-0. The Lady Eagles next home match in Menifee is on October 30th when they host first place San Bernardino Valley at 3 pm.