San Marcos began District 26-6A competition against East Central.
The Lady Rattlers fell to the Lady Hornets, 3-0, on Friday inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium.
Despite the result, head coach Jason Carnley believes his team played much better than the score showed.
“3-0, makes it look really bad, but I think we out possessed them,” Carnley said. “We moved the ball around really well. It’s just a couple of unlucky things happen and that’s the game.”
San Marcos looked poised to take an early lead in the match when the Lady Rattlers put back-to-back shots on goal. But San Marcos couldn’t find the back of the net.
East Central broke through in the 16th minute when Laurice Ortiz fired a cross into the box that found Paege Kutscher alone in front of San Marcos senior goalkeeper Geraldine Rubio. Kutscher placed a shot past Rubio to give the Hornets a 1-0 advantage.
The Lady Hornets added to their lead with goals from Ortiz and Kutscher in the second half to take the district-opening match, 3-0.
After having opportunities at goal in the first half, San Marcos had fewer chances of scoring in the second half, which Carnley says was the result of uncrisp passes.
“It felt like the passes we were making weren’t as crisp as they usually are, or we trying to lead too much,” Carnley said. “We were trying to play more direct than play San Marcos soccer. Just kind of kick and run. We’re trying to get out of that habit. We want to play to feet and move the ball around and try to find the back of the net.”
San Marcos continues district play on Tuesday on the road against Converse Judson at 7 p.m.
“I knew coming in this was going to be a tough physical match and it really was,” Carnley said. “I thought we were going to put some more on the goal than we did but we just couldn’t find the net early enough and we just kind of settled into the defensive role and we really couldn’t build out of it. But as district goes on, we’re going to have to play the underdog card and just get after it. It’s all we can do.”
San Marcos Boys Soccer
The Rattlers kicked off District 26-6A competition on the road against East Central. San Marcos swatted the Hornets, 6-2, on Friday.
The Rattlers return to action on Tuesday against Converse Judson inside San Marcos Toyota Rattlers Stadium at 7:15 p.m.
