Kicking off their season with a convincing 10-0 win in Merced on Tuesday the women's soccer team once again will be looking to have a deep postseason run in an attempt to capture the first state title in program history.

 

After back-to-back Final Four appearances, the Mustangs went 20-0-2 last season but saw their hopes of a third straight Final Four come to an end with a penalty kick shootout loss in the postseason.

 

"Trying to focus with them on just focusing on that day, just focusing on that next game. and not looking so far ahead like we have done in the past," said Head Coach Adrienne Sorenson about expectations coming into this season.

 

While they do lose two 20+ goal scorers from last season the team still returns an abundance of talent including Taylor McMahon and Jada Romero who each scored ten goals last season. Kaamna Shankar and Kaley Miller combined for 14 goals last season while talented newcomers like Michaela Clark should help make sure that the goals continue to come in bunches after the team scored 100 goals last season.

 

In their season-opening win, the Mustangs got three goals from Miller and two goals each from Romero and Clark. Shankar, Natalie O'Sullivan, and Katie Garcia also all scored a goal in their season debut.

 

"We have so many returners and they grew so much in the spring and that's something that we didn't have last season," said Sorenson about having the opportunity before this season to have a more normal spring and summer preparing for the season.

 

"I'm so proud of how hard they worked during the spring. So many individuals took big steps forward and it's great to see it pay off. We played quality four-year programs during the spring and in the preseason and they showed they can compete and win at a high level. A lot of players with this group took big steps forward and that's a credit to their hard work."

 

Once again this season they will play a challenging early schedule as they head to Southern California this weekend as they will face a Taft team that won 15 games last season before taking on Santiago Canyon on Sunday. Santiago Canyon won 18 games last season and was the team that knocked the Mustangs out of the Final Four in 2018 and 2019.

 

"I'm really trying to challenge them with the schedule," said Sorenson. "Taft and Santiago Canyon will be extremely challenging. I expect that they are going to compete every day. They showed that when they are right they can score goals and win games."

 

They will be hoping to score goals and win games into December once again this season.

 

All home games this season will have free admission with your next chance to see them play at home on Friday, September 9th when they take on West Valley at 5:30 pm.