Cosumnes River College’s women’s soccer team shut out Sacramento City College 3-0 on Sept. 23 to earn its first victory against the Big 8 conference.

Before the game, head coach Cesar Plasencia talked about how important it was to win its first conference game.

“It’s huge, we’re always trying to get off on the right foot,” Plasencia said.

In her first game coming off of an injury, freshman forward Katie Ulan secured the win for the Hawks with a hat trick.

“It felt amazing,” Ulan said. “This first win kind of sets the tone for the rest of the season.”

In the first half, Ulan scored her first goal at 26 minutes when she broke past two defenders then beat SCC goalkeeper Danni Hirschler with a shot into the right side of the net.

With two minutes left in the first half she got her second goal when the goalkeeper rushed out of the net to shut the play down before the Hawks forwards could get too close.

In a scramble for the ball, the keeper tried to fall on it but it squeaked past and rolled its way into the net with the three players running after it.

For most of the second half, CRC kept the pressure on but struggled to find the back of the net on several occasions by hitting posts, kicking the ball over or past the net and failing to find teammates for quick give-and-go passes.

But with two minutes left in the game sophomore forward Melissa Gomez found Ulan with a pass from the right to the left side of the field. SCC’s goalkeeper dived to try to break up the play, giving Ulan an open net for her third goal.

After the goal, Ulan clutched her leg in pain but said after the game that it was only a cramp or muscle strain and that she should not miss any more time.

With a high-tempo scoring system that keeps consistent pressure on defenses, Plasencia said that they did not play great, only “okay”.

“We dominated the game, but we should have had maybe two or three more goals easily,” Plasencia said, “we weren’t as creative as we needed to be close to the opponent’s goal.”

CRC’s Women’s soccer team (6-2-0) is set to play another home game against conference opponent Diablo Valley College (6-1-0) on Sept. 27.

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