A memorable senior day victory

Senior forward Milan Moses leads the Toreros to 1-0 win over USF with late-game goal

Alyssa Sanchez / Contributor / The USD Vista

The University of San Diego women’s soccer team defeated the University of San Francisco Dons by a score of 1-0 in their final home game last Sunday. It was a special day for USD, as it was not only the last home game of the season, but Senior Day as well.

Senior forward Summer Mason wasted no time getting things started, running down the field with the ball to take a shot after just a few minutes of play. USF defensive players quickly formed a wall to keep the ball out of the goal and sent it flying back to the middle of the field.

The two teams remained in the midsection of the field for much of the first half as the forward players stole the ball from each other many times. The Toreros and the Dons  also enlisted strong defense which made it very difficult for anyone to score, let alone approach the goals.

Junior midfielder Milan Moses took control of the ball multiple times and attempted to get crosses over to Mason who was almost always in position to score, but the Dons refused to let the duo get by. With Mason and Milan dominating the field for the majority of the first half, USF was mainly tasked with stopping the two in their tracks before they could shoot the ball. 

The Toreros and the Dons played with a lot of intensity,  sometimes getting rough in their style of play, which caused the referees to give out warnings or turn over the ball on multiple occasions.

Senior midfielder Maddie Marotta was injured after a misstep onto the ball which caused her to be helped off the field by the USD athletic training staff, and unable to re-enter the game. 

After a number of failed attempts by both teams to break through each other’s defensive barriers, the score remained 0-0 at the half. 

Head coach Louise Lieberman decided that the team’s tactic had to change for the second half of the game. 

“I told (her team) that they had to start playing with passion and good effort,” Lieberman said. “We decided to play a little more direct to get their flow going. Their attitude changed and they decided to step up their game because they knew it wasn’t good enough in the first half.”

The Toreros’ new plan was immediately implemented at the start of the second half and USD began breaking through the Dons’ defense, giving themselves more opportunities to make a goal. It appeared as though USD was playing in an entirely different game as they were much more aggressive than before, and took control over the ball. 

USD had multiple chances to score by getting many corner kicks which clearly worried the Dons as they had to up their defense to protect their goal. USF players constantly scrambled to block the many corner kick attempts from USD and had to rely on their goalkeeper to stop the ball several times.

USD goalkeeper Amber Michel made two impressive stops in the second half without any defensive assistance as the Dons were able to outrun USD players. 

San Francisco’s team seemed to have formed a similar plan to play more directly as they made an effort to take many more shots at the goal than they had in the first half. However, they were unsuccessful in their attempts as the Toreros fended off the Dons almost each time they neared the goal. 

Again, both teams struggled to make a goal and the game remained scoreless for most of the second half. However, the Toreros’ performance only improved as the game dragged on and they tried much harder with each attempt to slip in a goal wherever they could.

Finally, in the 85th minute of the game, Mason was able to break away from the pack of USF players behind her racing downfield to score the first goal of the game. USD then led 1-0, and played very defensively to prevent USF from scoring in the last five minutes. 

Mason’s goal remained the only one scored by either team as the regulation time ended with the final score of 1-0. The Toreros finished the game as winners, and Mason was extremely pleased to have scored the winning goal in her last game for USD.

“It was surreal,” Mason said. That was a goal of mine for this game as it was my last time playing on this field, my last year here, and I just really wanted us to win by me making a goal or at least an assist.”  

Mason said that she had a positive experience playing on the USD soccer team over the course of her career.

“It’s been amazing. There were lots of ups and downs, coaching changes, player changes, all kinds of things, but it’s been great and this was a really great year,” Mason said, “We had a really small team and everyone was close so it was just amazing here.”

Marotta reflected on her years on the women’s soccer team.

“My experience has been really great,” Marotta said. “The atmosphere has done a complete 180 since (Lieberman)got here. We’re a family. It was always very positive and we had each other’s backs.”

Lieberman was happy with the outcome, adding that she was proud of this year’s senior players.

“We didn’t win pretty but a win is a win and we’ll take it,” Lieberman said. “The seniors are phenomenal individuals, phenomenal soccer players, and I’m super lucky that I had them for two years. I wish I’d had them for more.”  

With the win, USD women’s soccer has wrapped up their home schedule. 

They will play their final game of the season  at Pepperdine on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m.