Cypress, Orange Coast Women Come Up Empty in Key Game

There is no question that Cypress and Orange Coast are the two best women’s soccer teams in the Orange Empire Conference.

But there still is a question about which team is better after they played to a 0-0 tie Tuesday at Orange Coast.

The score was surprising because Cypress (12-1-2, 4-0-1) began the game with 80 goals and the Pirates (10-2-3, 5-0-1) had 43. No other team in the conference started the week with more than 29 goals.

“We were happy with an 0-0 first half,” Pirate Coach Barbara Bond said. “But I’m really disappointed we didn’t score on them.”

Orange Coast had three shots and only one in the second half when Abbie Erickson chipped a shot a few feet over the goal. The move of forward Jessica Schroeder (five goals) to sweeper, to help control Cypress, caused problems for the Pirate offense, as did the play of the Cypress defense, led by sweeper Felicia Madrigal.

Cypress, which had 12 shots in the game, started to play well toward the end but had trouble getting the ball to the middle of the field. One of the few times the Chargers did, midfielder Vedda Desatoff took control, turned and drove the ball, but it was right at Pirate goalkeeper Kim Rudloff, who had eight saves.

“Their keeper did a nice job,” Cypress Coach Ray Haas said. “In this close rivalry everyone played well and it was a good, tough game.”