The Lady Olympians hosted the Southwestern Jaguars in a game filled with action, suspense, and controversy. The Jaguars currently sit on top of the Pacific Coast Conference and Mesa is fighting for a playoff spot to defend their conference title. In a meeting earlier in the season, Mesa was victorious over Southwestern when they were able to score the only goal in the game. The stage was set for a big game on Oct. 29 that came down to the closing minutes.

The first half looked like a boxing match as the two teams collided and traded attacks back and forth. The Olympians have changed their formation by utilizing three strikers to provide more offensive firepower.

“I like what we’re doing because it changed our style a little bit and provided more goal scoring opportunities,” explained Curran.

Freshman Yasmina Taketa led the charge for Mesa as she seemed to run circles around the Southwestern defense.

“I thought we had some great goal scoring opportunities in the first half,” said Head Coach Todd Curran. “But they just didn’t go in the net.”

Southwestern dodged a bullet early when sophomore Jessica Hernandez missed a goal by a hair and ricocheted off the crossbar.

The chess match between the two tough defenses continued in the second half. Mesa burst out of the gates with more aggression than they had in the first half. They struck first when sophomore Emily Jenkins caught the Southwestern goalkeeper off guard and put one into the back of the net.

“I noticed it was a short ball so I attacked it,” explained Jenkins. “It just ricocheted off my shin and went in.”

Freshman Sola Esparza increased their lead when she scored a stunning goal just five minutes after Jenkins scored the first.

“It just came to me and I scored,” said Esparza.

She launched a ball that bounced off a Southwestern player and rocketed into the net so fast that their goalkeeper could do nothing but watch it fly by.

“I thought our second goal was a scrappy goal that we deserved because we pressured them all game,” added Curran.

The Jaguars were not ready to go home without putting up a fight. With 19 minutes remaining they scored their first goal.

Southwestern cried out to referees to make calls throughout the game and finally were heard when a referee made a controversial call that changed the game drastically. With less than five minutes left, the referee called an arguable penalty that gave Southwestern a penalty kick. The Jaguars scored on goalkeeper Tiffany Apple who only allowed eight goals in the season coming into this game.

“There was no foul in the box,” said freshman Stephany Rodriguez. “But no one can say no the refs.”

Mesa beefed up their defense and gave themselves opportunities to score on late counter-attacks from Taketa and Hernandez. The game resulted in a 2-2 tie.

“It was a little disappointing to get a tie after leading 2-0,” said Curran.

The Lady Olympians have four games remaining and they need every one of them in order to guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs. Mesa headed to Cuyamaca College on Oct. 31. City College, Mira Costa, and Palomar will be next on their run through the Pacific Coast Conference. The team has competed in the playoffs nine of the last 10 seasons.