Gauchos battle for 2-2 tie

The Saddleback women's soccer team finished in a 2-2 tie against Golden West College on Tuesday afternoon at the OC Great Park in Irvine.  The Gauchos are now 3-3-3 on the season.

Saddleback was on fire at the beginning of the game, scoring two goals in the first eight minutes in taking a 2-0 lead.  Maliyah Medley scored in the fourth minute, heading in the ball off a pass from Paige Vitolo as the Gauchos took a 1-0 lead.  It ended a five-game scoring drought for Medley in what was her second goal of the season.

The second goal of the day was every bit as pretty when Mia Wood scored after a corner kick from Chloe Deveze in the eighth minute for a 2-0 advantage.  For Wood, it was her first goal of the year.

Despite the great start, the lead disappeared quickly.  Golden West bounced back, scoring in the 11^th minute when Emma Daniels scored her first goal of the season to cut the Saddleback lead to 2-1.  The Rustlers tied the game in the 22^nd minute when Faith Ellis lofted a ball over the Gaucho keeper from 25 yards away to tie the game at 2-2.

The rest of the game went scoreless, but had its fair share of fireworks.  Both teams had a number of solid scoring chances and Golden West was served two yellow cards in what turned out to be a physical battle.  Both teams finished with 14 total shots while Saddleback held a 10-5 advantage in shots on goal.

Saddleback is now 3-3-3 overall and 0-1-2 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Gauchos will play again on Friday when they travel to Fullerton College (8-1, 3-0) to take on the first place Hornets at 3:00 PM.