by Dennis McCall
Taft Midway Driller
RANCHO CUCAMONGA â€" The Taft College women's soccer team got a lesson in physical play here Tuesday afternoon and didn't like it at all.
A veteran Panther team pushed the more inexperienced Cougars around and kicked sand in their faces with a 5-1 non-conference win.
"We kind of got bullied," said head coach Myisha Cutrona, whose young team saw their record dip to 6-2-1 heading into Saturday's 1 p.m. home match against Lassen (1-5-1).
"Their physical play is what beat us," she said. "It wasn't the soccer. They just out-bullied us. They set the tone early. It was a rough game from the start and we couldn't handle it. Some of our girls folded."
But the rough and tumble game served as a lesson.
"It's a good lesson for our team. It shows them the importance of being mentally prepared against bigger girls who are more physical.
"We are young and inexperienced. We don't have club players like the good teams we play. Most of our girls are local and don't have that club experience.
"They know they can't just sit back, but we have talent and have to focus on getting the mental aspect of the game. I still have high hopes. We have to be tough."
Chaffey used is superior physical advantage to jump out to a 3-0 first-half lead before the
Cougars got a goal from freshman forward Valeria Garcia on a header after a pass from sophomore midfielder Celia Rangel, who steers the offense.
"Valeria is small but she plays big," Cutrona said.
The Cougars have three more non-league outings before jumping into Central Valley
Conference wars on Oct. 10.
So far the CVC looks like this in non-conference play:
Perennial power Fresno leads the pack with a 7-0-1 record, the Cougars are 6-2-1, West Hills-Lemoore 4-5-1 and Sequoias 3-5-1.