A promising season looks to be in the near future for DVC Women’s Soccer, who posted a 2-0 victory over the visiting DeAnza Dons on Aug. 27.

With fresh legs, athletic saves and wicked footwork, the women’s soccer team showed some promising talent on their first outing of the year.

“We’ve got a good solid group of sophomores, so just about every single sophomore is going to be a player that is contributing,” said head coach Cailin Mullins. “We don’t have any super-star standouts, but you know, our personality is going to be all about ‘team’ this season”

On opening kickoff, DeAnza started with the ball, but it did not stay that way for long. A series of passes and good communication led to a significant advantage for the Vikings in ball possession, and it seemed to stay that way for the first half.

Midfield play and defense were also a key to the Vikings’ success, with vocal call-outs made by captains Pamela Ramos, Haley Paxton and Emily Cremisio.

“We did really well today, came out, played our first game hard, and we’ve got to just keep working from here,” Cremisio said.

On the attack were starting forwards Katarina Gentry and Karla Hernandez who put some heavy pressure on the Dons from the start. Two great shots on goal and a barely missed second attempt by Krista Bartzi and Gentry fired up the offense.

DVC capitalized on the momentum two possesions later, with a rocketing shot by Bartzi into the upper right portion of the DeAnza goal. The first score came off of a corner kick and an assist by Alicia Palma.

Aggressive goal play by Jenn Crider and the rest of the Vikings’ defense sent the ladies to the locker room at the half with a 1-0 lead. DVC totaled eight shots on goal vs. a mere five shots for the Dons.

A series of substitutions also kept the team up and running. Switching keepers at the half, and rotating players made for a fresh and fully functional lineup throughout the entirety of the game, and it showed on the field.

A few turnovers later, Gentry had a breakaway, her first attempt bounced off of the hands of the DeAnza keeper, but the second attempt shot into the left side of the goal, making it 2-0.

The Vikings closed out the game with some stellar defense and aggressive goal play. The combined efforts of Megan Elms and Jenn Crider made for a shutout on the first game of the year.

“It feels great to have a win on our first game. I was kind of nervous at first, but as soon as you touch the ball and get into the groove of things, it all just flows from there.” Crider said.

For having no opponent game film, the Vikings put forth a very impressive first outing. The next home game is against Ohlone on Friday September 6.