Women's Soccer looks for strong second half of season to propel them to playoff berth
Monday September 30, 2024 - 3:00 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger
Mesa Women's Soccer looks to surge in the second half of their 2024 season and capture their first playoff berth since 2021.
The Lady T-Birds had an up and down first half of their season which earned them a 4-5 record (4-4 ACCAC) with seven matches left in the year. MCC started the season off strong with back-to-back wins over Chandler-Gilbert and Gateway but would then lose their next five contests. Things do seem to be looking up for the T-Birds as of late with another two game winning streak strung together with wins over Paradise Valley and Chandler-Gilbert.
Many factors contribute to the T-Birds inability to stay consistent over the course of the season, for head coach Drew Guarneri and his staff the biggest takeaway at this point in the season has been the T-Birds mistakes that cost them over time.
"We have the ability to win, we just have to eliminate the silly mistakes or repeating the same mistakes. I think that was our nemesis of the first half of the season," said Guarneri.
A prime example of mistakes in critical moments happened early on Aug. 31 against Glendale. A 2-1 T-Bird loss in the box score might not speak volumes, but the context of the defeat tells so much of missed opportunity.
Glendale got on the board in the first half and took a 1-0 lead all the way up until the 67th minute when Claire Herbert scored on a tremendous shot outside the box. Glendale would find themselves in a position to steal the game in the 87th minute when they were awarded a penalty kick which was converted to give them a 2-1 lead. Mesa was unable to tie the game and would fall, 2-1.
The T-Birds had more than enough chances to take the momentum and victory away from the Gauchos as they had 18 shots on goal to Glendale's six. GCC's goalkeeper was working hard to defend her net but on more than one occasion the T-Birds had a clear look at a relatively makeable goal and just were not able to find a way to put it in.
Even though that contest was just Mesa's third of the season, the loss may have extreme playoff implications for the T-Birds as they find themselves on the outside looking in with Glendale one game ahead of them in the win column.
MCC will get their chance at redemption on Oct. 5 when they travel to Glendale for a rematch, a game Guarneri knows is make or break for their playoff lives.
"It's a must win game, if we don't split with them this season I'm not sure how we can find ourselves in the playoffs. We gave a game away the first time we played them and it's our own doing," said Guarneri.
If the T-Birds do manage to avenge their loss they still will have to take care of business in their remaining games which will not be easy. Facing the top three DII seeds in the conference in Pima, Phoenix College, and Scottsdale in consecutive order, a challenge that Mesa did not fare well with earlier in the season going 0-3 while being shutout twice in those three matchups.
The second half of the season starts on Tuesday Oct. 5 for Mesa as they will play Gateway in an away game played at Mesa Community College.
PC: Matthew Lincoln / Matthew Matusak
