On Oct. 3, De Anza College Women’s soccer played a home game against Cañada College. A tough fought game ends in a 4-0 loss, continuing De Anza’s losing streak to seven.
Going into the game, Head Coach Mark Landefeld mentions some of the complications going into the season.
“We did not have a team for the fall of 2022 which means when we got to the fall of 2023 … was a real challenge because we had no returners on the team,” Landefeld said. “I’ve only got five returns from last year.”
Landefled is in his second year of coaching the women’s soccer team and has an additional six years of experience coaching men’s soccer.
The match started off on the wrong foot with the first goal being scored within two minutes of the game by No. 17 Sarah King on the Cañada Colts. The main issues for De Anza during the first half of the game was a lack of communication and marking issues that the Colts took advantage of by positioning themselves in the open space which led them to score another two goals in the first half at minutes 25 and 31 by No.17, Sarah King and No.10, Camilla Arellano.
The game continued to play out in favor of the Colts, who had excellent field awareness and made great plays that kept the team in the offensive zone.
De Anza improved significantly in the second half. One of the captains, Isabella Canepa, 19, cognitive science major, No. 7, said, “We communicated way better in the second half than we did in the first half and I’ve seen a lot of improvements with the team and I’m just really proud.”
Andrea Rosales Ruvalcaba, 18, business major, No. 32 played her first game with De Anza after joining mid-season, only conceding one goal in the second half. One goal going into the net was an impressive shot from outside the penalty box on the right wing by No. 11, Celeste Calvo. at the 83rd minute mark.
One thing that stood out during the game was the mental fortitude of De Anza during the entire game. Being able to rally after a bad first half and have a strong second half shows the willingness to improve and determination the team had.
After the game, Coach Landefeld said, “They were good about taking those corrections and activating them among themselves.”
The team can learn from each game on how to improve team chemistry, communication and positioning for plays and the little improvements seen throughout the game can give the team hope for the future, with the next game at home being held on campus on Oct. 22nd vs the West Valley Vikings.