While the lady Trojans suffered their first conference loss to reigning Coast Conference champions, West Valley College on Oct. 7th, the Trojans are off to one of the best starts ever, going 7-1-2 in the first 10 games of the season.
In fact, the team earned their highest ranking ever in northern California, placing 3rd but have been dropped to 6th in the Northern California Community College Women’s Soccer Rankings as of Oct.20th.
“We have a talented team and have had some freshmen who have made an impact right away,” said Kevin Corsiglia, women’s soccer coach. “They’ve complemented our sophomores and have made us more of a complete team.”
Nancy Chicas is leading the way, leading the team with 24 goals, in which she shattered Skyline’s old school record of 18 on Oct. 4th against Evergreen Valley College.
“It’s my teammates passing me great balls and the players believing in me,” said Chicas, who gives credit to her teammates for feeding her the ball.
According to Chicas the number of goals she scores isn’t an issue because “As long as we win and we have fun doing, that’s all that matters.”
“She (Chicas) has what you call a scorer’s mentality,” said Corsiglia. “When she has a chance to score she just doesn’t kick the ball at the goal, she finishes. There is difference between shooting and finishing.”
On the other side of the field, Goal-Keeper, Patricia Arciniega has been an iron-woman logging in over 1200 minutes on the field and keeping the lady Trojans in most of their games by allowing just below two and half goals per game as of Oct. 14.
However, the lady Trojans have been hit by the injury bug at this point of the season as they started off with twenty-girls but were left with over 13 active players at one point. According to Coach Corsiglia, the team has lost six girls to injury.
Injuries finally took its toll as the lady Trojans were left shutout 8-0 by De Anza on Oct. 11 as they played with only 11 women.
“Were hoping to keep everyone healthy and continue to make a push towards the playoffs,” said Corsiglia.
“We had no subs so that was pretty difficult,” said Nancy Esquivel. “But we kept playing hard. But were still recruiting people and finding out if they want to play.”
Friday, Oct. 14, Skyline traveled to Salinas as they played visitor to Hartnell College, ending in a tie, 3-3. Chicas scored three times with assists by Aurora David and Jihan Abdel-Gawad.
On Oct.19, Cabrillo College (6-6-1) defeated Skyline 7-2, which saw Chicas score 2 goals. This game was originally scheduled for Oct. 18th but was postponed due to the death of Jihan Abdel-Gawad.
The remaining schedule for the lady Trojans pits them against conference foes such as Mission College and Canada College.
“If we win that’s great but if we lose then it’s just another learning experience, Chicas said.
“I’m expecting to work hard and never giving up.”
Watch the lady Trojans next home game as they face Las Positas at 2pm.
Also, check out our Online Exclusives on our homepage to view the Women’s Soccor Slideshow!
