The Bellevue College Bulldogs women’s soccer team avenged the embarrassing lost they suffered a week ago by beating the Wenatchee Valley Knights 4-2. It was their second win of the season and first in three games.
In their previous game, the Bulldogs never really got out of the gate as they were tackled in a 6-0 defeat against Walla Walla. In the Wenatchee game however, the girls brought their A-game, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
The scoring started late in the first quarter of play off a corner kick from Juanita High School alumni Ashley Bernoudy, which went to Brittany Conway. Conway then managed to get the ball around Wenatchee goalkeeper Connie Nava for the first goal of the game.
The Knights would continue to struggle on defense for much of the game, especially after halftime. Wenatchee forward Kami Yacinich often had to come onto the defense to assist, severely hurting the teams attack.
The second BC goal came from a penalty kick around the box in the 52nd minute. Conway took the kick, then recovered the deflection off a defender and served it up to a flying Jannely Quintana, who headed the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 home advantage.
It wasn’t until the 58th minute that Wenatchee would finally join the Bulldogs on the scoreboard, when freshman Wyatt Piro found the back of the net, putting the score at 2-1. Things didn’t stay close for long though, as a service from Conway to Shelby Blair went just over the crossbar. Then Conway hooked up with Kayla Kaspar on a long shot from outside the box to put BC up by two once again.
In garbage time teams traded scores. Jaclyn Smith was able to put a boot on a deflection in front of the net in the 85th minute for another goal and a 4-1 lead. Wenatchee immediately retaliated with their own goal— and that’s the way the score would stay.
Freshman Janelle Gobatto had a great game in front of the net. The two goals don’t tell the whole story, as she put hands on a few balls to deflect them away and came off her line early in the second half to save in a one on one situation.
Despite that valiant performance, the game ball would have to go to Conway. A goal, an assist and another near assist are the kinds of performances a player, and a team, can build upon. Hopefully these kinds of games will be commonplace.
The game was fairly clean with no notable fouls and no cards were issued throughout the game.
BC also managed to tie Highline Community College later in the week on the road. Smith scored late in the first half, but HCC came back in the 80th minute and ended the game in a 1-1 draw. Conway was dealt a yellow card in that game.
The Bulldogs next game will be against Spokane at home and then they will hit the road again to face Tacoma.