In their second meeting of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 30, the DVC soccer team barely edged out Sacramento City College 1-0 in a game that looked much different than their first meeting with the Panthers. On Oct. 2, the team brought home a decisive 3-0 win in a game they had complete control of. The big difference between the two games was injuries.

The Vikings are dealing with late-season injuries that have two of the main target players, captains Wendy Magarin and Elizabeth Driscoll, sitting out until they are cleared to play. Both players suffered concussions during practice. According to head coach Caillin Mullins, the team had to restructure their shape and players had to switch positions to make things work.

Mullins explained, “We now have to rely on our athleticism and pace, and utilize the width of the field. It has been frustrating in the final third though; there have been many opportunities, but not a lot of scoring.”

The only goal of the game came early in the eighth minute of the first half. Katarina Gentry connected with a through pass from Krista Bartzi in one of the first breakaways in the game. As alluded to earlier, the chance to score was there, but DVC was unable to put another goal away in the remaining 82 minutes of the game.

Assistant coach Sam Liubicich said, “A win is a win, we will take it,” but she was clearly upset that more of the team’s opportunities were not capitalized on. Liubicich said the team tried to use more crosses in front of the goal since their target players were absent, and that created more chances. However, those chances did not lead to additional goals.

Two games are left in the season, both at home, and the Vikings are hoping that the two captains will be cleared to play. Getting back to the system that has been successful for the team so far will be very important in their chances for the upcoming playoffs.

The Vikings will host Santa Rosa on Tuesday and Sierra College on Thursday, Nov. 8. Kickoff for both games is at 3 p.m.