MESA, AZ- The Soka Lions dropped their road match against the Benedictine Mesa Redhawks 2-1 Thursday evening at the Bell Bank Sports Complex.

The Redhawks were the first to score, converting their chance nine minutes into the game. However, the Lions answered back ten minutes later, off of a goal from Samantha Barrera. Tonight's goal was Barrera's sixth of the season, bringing her to 13 points thus far on the year.

With end-to-end action, the two sides remained level until the 69th minute of play when Benedictine's Elena Rivera converted the game-winner off of an assist from Baylie Saunders.

Despite creating multiple scoring opportunities, the Lions were unable to equalize. Both teams had equal looks on frame throughout the game, with nine shots each.

"We are bummed for the result tonight," said Head Coach Wendy Espejel. "I don't think the score reflected the opportunities in the game. We started a bit slow and went down early but came back firing in the second half. If we can execute some of those opportunities for the next match, it will be a different game. It was a great effort from the team overall."

The Lions remain on the road for their next match, traveling to Gilbert, AZ, to face the Park University Gilbert Buccaneers on Saturday, October 22, 2022. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m.
 

Game Notes: The Lions are now 3-10-2 overall and 3-6-1 in Cal Pac Conference play… Soka's Mallorie Barteua took three shots, and Taylor Hampton took two shots… Roxana Ortiz, Araceli Soto-Garcia, Alex Bershtein, and Samantha Barrera each took one shot on the day… Sasha Brafman made two saves on the day.