The College of DuPage women’s soccer team (6-7-2) defeated Kankakee Community College on Oct. 16 after a 5-0 commanding victory in a NJCAA Region 4 women’s soccer contest. The Chaps win featured five players scoring goals, totaling 27 shots on goal. It was a nightmare for the opposition’s defense, and they were quickly overwhelmed.
“We’ve been looking for [consistency] all season and have no issue creating chances all season, so to be able to score five goals in a game and have a commanding bit of possession was really good,” said head women’s soccer coach Matt Hanna. “Thankfully we’ve had a pretty fresh season and haven’t had too many injuries and if we have it’s been pretty minor. For us, it’s about making sure everything is connected and have really good patches in games and our defense has been strong.”
Freshman Mayrin Ortiz-Teutle broke the Chaps free early with a goal in the 12th minute of the game to give the Chaps a 1-0 lead. Ortiz-Teutul now has two goals this season.
“I think we did a really good job of being well structured and working as a unit,” said Ortiz-Teutle. “I had taken a couple shots before [scoring] and the fact that my goal came off a one-touch [scenario] made me really happy since I normally struggle with that. Right now, I think we are at our strongest and all have pretty good chemistry with each other and going into the next couple of games will help us.”
Lucy Sugarman finished the game with one goal after scoring with 28 minutes left in the first half. This left COD with a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
“This game I focused on being calm and making crisp passes,” said Sugarman. “I think that focus ultimately led me to scoring and led to all of our goals since we were able to play really composed. The fact that I finished the goal isn’t the most important thing, it is how well we all played together.”
Asa Potts maintained the Chaps’ momentum in the second half after scoring in a 1v1 confrontation with the opposition’s goalkeeper with 39 minutes left in the game. This brought the score to 3-0.
“We had a lot of players tonight that usually don’t go on or get a lot of minutes that scored and I think that’s very important and great for the team,” said Potts.
Berenice Marin scored only 9 minutes after Potts, making it 4-0.
“Overall, I think we started off a little slow but we knew this was a team we were supposed to beat,” said Marin. “I think the score could’ve been 11-0 honestly and I’m just super proud of everyone for the way they played.”
Anaitzel Huerta scored her first collegiate goal with the Chaps after scoring off a put back goal from a shot from Potts.
“The goal meant a lot for me since it was my first goal in college and I don’t know how to react,” said Huerta. “I was really happy and I had a great help from Asa to help me get the goal. I’m coming back from a hamstring injury so it was tough, but it was great having confidence playing as a striker.”
The Chaparrals will take on Moraine Valley Community College at 4 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium.
