Falcons Kick Off Football Preseason

SOLANO – Women’s Athletic Preseason is here and the wait for Falcon Football is almost over. After a summer full of training and change in personnel (both players and staff), new head coach Alonso Frias debuted an impressive lineup to kick off the first game of preseason on a sunny and windy Tuesday afternoon.

What was already a huge reality check for our team only became surprisingly evident when visiting college Butte scored within the first minute of the game.

Upon kickoff, the women’s team showed resilience to pick themselves up and fight for every ball. Although Butte dominated possession at times, sophomore Aaliyha Padilla controlled the tempo of the game from midfield with elegance.

Returning captains, sophomores Katelyn Walbot and Kalina Osorio were a powerhouse double pivot in defensive mid that helped steer the game back anytime possession was lost, applying pressure on the visitors.

The first half finished with the score at 0-1 before the team huddled up to be given instructions by assistant coaches Anna Cordova and Peter Ordaz going into the second half. If that motivation wasn’t enough, Coach Alonso fired up the squad by telling them “We’re one play from tying the game”.

The second half began and proved a much more scrappy affair. Already on a few yellow cards, the Falcons relied heavily on their defensive backline to tidy up any attacks that came into the area. Center backs Mattea Cortez and freshman Mariah Bender had their work cut out for them but reinforced that they were up to the challenge.

“Our team is just learning how to work together. Our backline took a lot of shots, fighting more 1v1s and winning more of those duels in open play. Continuing to practice will help us build out our team, allowing us to work together and help any new faces become part of an actual team and that will show out on the field.” said Captain Osorio.

Setting up a good offside trap was key to staying in the game, as the visiting team were caught lacking several times, with Solano shutting down any offensive chances coming into the box. But after going down a couple more goals, it became clear that playing a low block would be necessary to maintain the scoreline.

With great footwork from Cortez and a beautiful rainbow flick from Captain Osorio, Solano kept pushing to get the ball up the field any chance they could. With freshmen Zoe Zanassi standing by on the wing and Breanna Davis carrying the forward line, any duel that led to an offensive opportunity would be taken advantage of.

With the third Butte goal coming from a set piece and a fourth goal built up on short passes, Solano was in real trouble heading into the last ten minutes of the game. Truthfully, the scoreline did not reflect what was fought out on the field because progress was definitely shown throughout the full 90 minutes.

After the game Captain Katelyn Walbot concluded by saying, “A big part of our squad last season was built up by sophomores, so them leaving brought in a bunch of new players into the team. Especially offensively, we have forwards that give us more attacking options. For our first game back, having a shorter summer session, we performed really well! We stayed in it longer than I was expecting us to and even though we could have been more conditioned, I’m really proud of this team for fighting the whole 90 minutes so it can only get better from here.”

The second game of preseason will be played Friday, August 29th at 12:00pm and there is no doubt that our Falcons dream of nothing more than to make our school proud.