Cats bite late on Halloween

The Saddleback women's soccer team scored a late goal to defeat Cypress College, 3-2, on Friday afternoon inside the stadium.  The Bobcats remain in first place with four games remaining on the schedule.

Saddleback is trying to win a third straight Orange Empire Conference championship and a fourth in five years, but the conference is deeper than ever, and every battle seems to be a challenge.  Friday's opponent was Cypress, a team that needs no introduction.  The Chargers have played in two straight state title games and always seem to play the Bobcats tough.

Saddleback came out hot but couldn't get one past the Cypress keeper in the opening half after outshooting the Chargers 8-4.  The two teams went to the locker room in a 0-0 stalemate.

The second half was completely different as the offenses started to show up.  The Bobcats scored a pair of goals in the opening seven minutes in grabbing a 2-0 lead.  Jinan Said started the scoring when she took a pass from Hannah Allen and blasted it into the right side of the net for her seventh goal of the season in the 47^th minute.  Less than five minutes later, Araylia Holiday sent a header forward and Said won a footrace with the defender before beating the keeper a second time for her eighth goal of the season in the 52^nd minute.

Cypress would not go away.  The Chargers responded with a goal in the 58^th minute on a blast from Jessica Rosalino Vicente to cut the lead to 2-1.  Cypress was then given a penalty kick when the referee called a handball against the Bobcats inside the box in the 77^th minute.  The Chargers chose Aliso Kangas to take the shot, and she made good on the opportunity to tie the game at 2-2.

With time winding down, both teams were getting solid opportunities in the offensive zone and each had chances to take the lead.  The Bobcats were given a free kick near midfield after a Cypress foul, thus drawing a yellow card on the Charger bench.  Kaiya Biller sent a ball forward near the goal and after a mad scramble McKenna Pugh came up with the loose ball and beat the keeper to the right for a 3-2 lead.

Saddleback then went into stall mode, thus holding on to the ball and playing keep away from the Chargers. The Bobcats managed to run out the clock to pull out the win. 

Saddleback outshot Cypress 17-12 for the game while improving to 12-1-3 overall and 7-0-3 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats now have a one point lead over Santiago Canyon College in the standings with four games to play.

Saddleback also extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games with the win.  The Bobcats will try to keep the momentum going on Tuesday when they travel to Orange Coast College.  Saddleback and Orange Coast are scheduled to start at 7:00 PM in Costa Mesa.