Gauchos overcome heat for opening win

The Saddleback women's soccer team opened the 2017 season with a 1-0 win at Mt. San Jacinto College on Tuesday in San Jacinto.  The Gauchos outlasted the Eagles in 111-degree heat to win their opening game for a fifth straight season.

Saddleback has a young squad and was facing a Mt. San Jacinto team that qualified for the playoffs last season.  The Gauchos stymied the Eagle attack as Dz-Rae Jara picked up a shutout in goal to open the season.  Jara is one of the veterans for Saddleback in 2017 after being a part of seven shutouts last season and making the Orange Empire Conference Second Team.  

The two teams played to a 0-0 stalemate in the opening half as the heat was sweltering on the field.  The Gauchos finally broke through in the 58th minute when newcomer Alyssa Pellow connected off a pass from Ilaina Brenes-Rodriguez for a 1-0 lead.  The Gauchos managed to keep Mt. San Jacinto in check the rest of the way, surviving both the heat and the Eagle attack for another 32 minutes.  

"I'm really proud of the way they responded under adverse conditions," head coach BJ McNicol said.  "Getting a win on opening day on the road in those conditions is a tough challenge."

For Saddleback, it was a fifth consecutive win on opening day as the Gauchos have never lost an opening-day game during the McNicol era.  The Gauchos will try to make it two in a row to open the season on Friday when they travel to MiraCosta College.  Game time is scheduled for 3:30 PM in Oceanside.