COD Women’s Soccer: Guerrero grabs hat trick as Desert knocks off the Warriors, 5-1

COD (5-5-1) scored six goals yesterday and scored five today as the Roadrunners faced off against a team they had not seen since 2006, defeating the El Camino Warriors of Torrance (4-5) for the first time in program history, 5-1.

Sophomore forward Jiana Guerrero (La Quinta H.S.) had an amazing day in front of the net as she rolled up three goals and an assist and sophomore defender Alexi Mejia (La Quinta H.S.) had two goals of her own and an assist in the victory.

Desert hosted the Warriors for the first time since 2006, making the most of their opportunities even after the game was delayed 30 minutes due to early fall lightening, which caused the skies to open up and force both teams to seek shelter.

When the rain dissipated, the skies opened and the sun shone down upon the Roadrunners as they got onto the scoreboard in the 12th minute.

Mejia would pass the ball to Guerrero across the goal mouth as she moved towards the goal on the right, where Guerrero pounded the well placed pass into the lower middle of the net, giving the Roadrunners and early 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, Guerrero found the back of the net for a second time, the goal coming off of a throw in by freshman forward Jaidah Martin (Rancho Mirage H.S.) and a brilliant pass from freshman defender Victoria Relerford (Rancho Mirage H.S.). Relerford took the ball on the right side of the goal box and pressed the ball forward to Guerrero, who then carried the ball to the middle of the net and punched the shot into the lower left corner of the net, just past the outstretched dive of the Warriors keeper.

El Camino would add a goal before halftime, keeping the game close, but the Roadrunners still in the lead, 2-1.

In the opening 53 seconds of play in the second half, Guerrero collected her hat trick, as she received a pass to the right from freshman midfielder April Contreras (Palm Desert H.S.) and Guerrero immediately shot the ball at the Warriors keeper, which ricocheted back to Guerrero and she rifled the shot into the lower left hand corner of the net, giving Desert a 3-1 advantage.

Guerrero would wrap up her day of offense with an assist, as she found Mejia directly right in front of the right post and Mejia would pop that header into the upper right corner of the net to give the Roadrunners a 4-1 lead.

The final goal of the afternoon found the back of the net in the 60th minute as freshman midfielder Estefania Valenzuela (Thermal Coachella Valley) ran forward and drew the defense and Warriors keeper towards her. Once the defense bit hard on the ruse, Valenzuela poked the ball back out to a wide open Mejia, who patiently gathered herself and crushed a shot into the twine.

Freshman starting goal keeper Marqisha Zamudio-Ontiveros (Thermal Coachella Valley) played 75 minutes in net for Desert and freshman goal keeper Kaylin Eastman (Indio Shadow Hills) wrapped things up.

The next home game for Desert is Friday, when they host the Grossmont Griffins of La Mesa on Friday, October 5, the last time the Griffins visited the Desert, which was in 2016, the game ended in a hard fought 1-1 draw, game starts at 3 p.m.

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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.

Information & Story provided by COD Sports Information. Photo by COD Sports Information assistant Ashtyn Lyneis.