The Allan Hancock College women’s soccer team is still finding its groove. The team’s overall record is 2-6, but both of those victories were back-to-back, just before the team entered the Western State Conference games.
Both of the Bulldogs’ wins were against Cerro Coso Community College. The first one was at the College of the Sequoias tournament in Visalia, and the most recent win was at Cerro Coso on Sept. 23.
The team’s lead scorer, Kaitlin Campbell, helped the team nab those victories. Campbell scored two goals in the first match against the Coyotes, one in the first half and the other in the second. The final score was 3-0.
In their latest victory, Campbell scored one goal, and the Bulldogs shutout the Coyotes a second time with a final score of 2-0.
Campbell, standing 5-feet-2-inches, leads the Bulldogs with six goals so far this season.
“She doesn’t back down,” head coach Rod Garcia said. “She’s not huge, but she has a big heart.”
Campbell’s goals have mostly been on breakaways, she said, where one of her teammates fed her a through-ball, and after juking the defender, she was left alone with the goalie.
“My speed helps a lot,” the forward said.
Campbell is 20 years old and has been at AHC for three years, but this is her first year playing on the soccer team. She wasn’t able to play before this season because she was healing from a hip injury.
She dislocated her hip while playing soccer in high school. Campbell played for Orcutt Academy High School, which she graduated from in 2012.
A dislocated hip isn’t the only soccer injury she’s sustained over the years. She also suffered a concussion while playing soccer in an arena league, she said.
Right now the Bulldog plays with a black bandage around her right thigh to assuage her quad, which she tore earlier this season.
“I’ve had my share of injuries,” she said. “I don’t care how much it hurts; I’m going to keep playing.”
Campbell has been playing soccer since she was in the second grade, she said. She’s now studying liberal arts and wants to be an elementary school teacher, which would suit her, because she’s already started teaching on the field by giving tips to her teammates who are new to the game.
This season the Bulldogs have 13 freshman players and only five returners. For some of the women on the team, it’s their first time playing.
Mayra Torres is also 20 years old and in her third year at AHC, but this is her first year playing soccer.
Torres plays forward with Campbell and gets advice from her more experienced counterpart.
“She’s really helpful,” Torres said. “If we’re doing something wrong, she tells us and we fix it.”
Some of the things that Campbell tells the offense to do are to spread out and, of course, to be tough.
The Bulldogs have to be resilient this year because although there are 18 players on the roster, the team has a limited number of subs it can use in each game, assistant coach, Alexis Lomeli, said.
Because of the limited number of subs, the Bulldogs have to play a more defensive-oriented game, Lomeli said, leaving Campbell to do the offensive work.
“The people I compete against don’t expect me to be as tough as I am,” Campbell said. “It makes it that much better when I score.”
This article appears in Oct 9-16, 2014.