SOCCER : WOMEN’S JUNIOR COLLEGE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP : Rolland Leads Moorpark to Title, 2-0

Daniel Ohayon, coach of the women’s soccer team at Moorpark College, started summer practice with just enough players to field a softball team. Unfortunately, that left him two bodies short for soccer.

Only nine players showed up Aug. 21 and the Raiders’ roster was still thin almost a month later when they entered the Bakersfield tournament with 13 players.

“We had a (forward) playing in the goal,” Ohayon said.

But as the roster grew, Ohayon was able to move Heather Rolland from goal back to center forward, and Saturday that move paid off.

Moorpark beat De Anza, 2-0, at El Camino College to win the women’s junior college state title and Rolland, the team leader in goals and assists, scored the decisive goal.

After Moorpark won the Western State Conference title by a half-game over El Camino, the defending state champion, the Raiders’ journey through the South regional and into the state final was icing on the cake.

“At the beginning of the season I didn’t expect to be here,” Ohayon said after vigorously waving the championship trophy over his head while leading the team on a victory lap around the stadium.

A pesky Moorpark offense--which had scored six goals in two previous postseason matches--peppered De Anza goalkeepers Shari Van Tassel and Nicki Mount with 12 shots. Meanwhile, a stingy defense allowed the Dons (13-4-1) only two direct shots in 11 attempts.

“We couldn’t generate anything in our attacks,” De Anza Coach Kulwant Singh said. “We had some opportunities, we just couldn’t execute.”

For Moorpark (14-2-1), Saturday’s win was the second over De Anza this season. The Raiders beat the Dons, 1-0, in the first round of the Bakersfield tournament Sept. 14.

Rolland gave Moorpark a 1-0 lead in the first half with her 15th goal after Liz Albin’s shot from 15 yards was deflected by two defenders. Rolland, camping alone on the right flank, pounced on the ball and put an angle shot from 16 yards across the penalty area into the lower-left corner of the goal at the 14-minute mark.

The Raiders scored again 17 minutes later on a shot by Michele Light. From 26 yards, Light booted the ball high in the air. Van Tassel backed toward the left post to deflect the incoming ball but instead got tangled with the post and accidentally nudged the ball into the goal.

Van Tassel was injured on the play and Mount finished the match.

Aimee Lyman recorded the shutout for Moorpark.