The women’s soccer team won their match against the American River College Beavers on Tuesday 1-0 at ARC after coming off of a draw at home against the Sierra College Wolverines on Friday.

“We’re good defensively, we don’t give up a lot of goals,” said Head Coach Cesar Plascensia. “They weren’t ever a threat, I felt pretty good about our back four holding them down.”

The ARC goalkeeper, sophomore Julia Mann, blocked a penalty kick in the 24th minute, keeping the match scoreless going into the half.

The Hawks single goal came in the 46th minute from sophomore defender Alana Smith’s free kick where sophomore defender Katherine Smith was able to find the back of the net.

“I thought we didn’t have a good attitude in the first half in terms of attacking possibilities,” said Plascensia. “We weren’t very effective, but we got the one we needed.”

The Hawks defense played hard with sophomore goalkeeper Zara Mujica putting on a shutout performance.

“We had a lot of pressure towards the other team,” said Mujica. “I think that helped us a lot.”

Teamwork and communication was a highlight in the Hawk’s performance, limiting the Beavers to two shots on goal.

“I think that’s the key,” said Mujica. “Communication and talking to each other keeps us in the game, especially when we do not have the ball.”

The Hawks looked well conditioned through their second match in five days and they were able to maintain their pace needed to keep the pressure throughout the match.

“It makes a big difference,” Placensia said. “Not only are we deep, but we’re also real fit.”

The Hawks look to start faster and score more goals in matches going forward to take the pressure off the defense.

“I think that we could have had more goals,” Mujica said. “It seems to be happening quite often, but hopefully we will get there eventually.”

The single card given in the match came in the 18th minute, when freshman midfielder Mandy Thao picked up a yellow card for the Hawks.

After the win, the Hawks advanced to 8-2-3 in the 3C2A and 3-0-1 in the Big 8 conference, making them tied for second place in the conference with the San Joaquin Delta Mustangs.

The Hawks now shift their focus to Friday, where they will match up at home against the Santa Rosa Bear cubs at 3:30 p.m.