The Oakland Soul SC overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat visiting Marin FC Siren by a final score of 3-1 Thursday night, May 23, at Merritt College in Oakland.
Both teams looked evenly matched early on, but Marin got on the board first when Elsa Nolen scored against the run of play to give her team a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute.
The Soul made four substitutions at halftime, which provided an obvious spark for Oakland. They owned the second half, hemming Marin into their defensive end for the majority of the frame and leveling the match just minutes after the whistle. Henar Urteaga found a soft spot in the Siren defense on a corner kick in the 49th minute and put a gorgeous header into the top left corner to tie the match at 1-1.
The Soul continued to apply pressure, eventually capitalizing on it in the 63rd minute when Kaytlin Brinkman deflected a shot from Sam Tran right in front of the keeper to put it into the twine and give Oakland a 2-1 advantage.
After nearly earning her second goal of the match in the 70th minute on a laser shot from deep that rang the crossbar, Brinkman did earn her brace in the 81st minute when another shot from beyond the penalty area bent just inside the far post to bring the Soul lead to 3-1.
Oakland continued to earn scoring chances but were content to reach the final whistle with the lead, earning all three points in the table.
The Soul had a quick turnaround, they faced the California Storm on Saturday, May 25 before returning to Oakland to face the Pleasanton Rage on Thursday, May 30. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Summary
Scoring:
- MFC: Elsa Nolen 40’
- OAK: Henar Urteaga 49’
- OAK: Kaytlin Brinkman 63’
- OAK: Kaytlin Brinkman 81’
Oakland Soul
Lineup: Layla Armas, Alexandra Diaz (Samantha Tran), Sydney Shepherd (Vickie Jones), Marissa Garcia, Clare Robke, Arianna Veland (Henar Urteaga), Tatiana Cunningham, Madison Samillo (Aaliyah Schinaman), Lizzie Vranesh (Kennedy Schoennauer), Kaytlin Brinkman, Alessandrea Carpio (Miranda Nild)
Unused subs: Cassia Souza
