2005 Women's Soccer

The Feather River women's team defeated College of Redwoods 3-1 in a conference game on Tuesday. Amber Vasquez, Heather Bennett and Marcia Silva scored for the Lady Eagles who remain unbeaten in conference and unbeaten in the last 9 games. "This sets up nicely our game against Lassen on Friday,"said Coach Gill. Both teams are unbeaten in conference play, so it should be very exciting."

Women Beat Yuba 3-0

The women's soccer team played Yuba College in a non-conference game and beat them 3-0. In the game, Amber Vasquez scored two goals and Heather Bennett added a blast from 25 yards to finish off the scoring. Sister Ashley Bennett recorded her fourth shutout of the season for the Lady Eagles. Feather River traveles to College of Redwoods this Tuesday and will try to maintain its unbeaten record (5-0-1) in conference play.

Golden Eagles Undefeated in Conference

Amber Vasquez scored three goals in a 3-1 victory against Shasta College on Tuesday. These goals bring her tally to 16 in 9 games. More importantly FRC is now 7-5-2 on the season and 5-0-1 in conference play. Heather Bennett(2) and Camilla Estefano had the assists for the Lady Eagles. "It was great to continue our momentum after the great results last week against Lassen and Butte," said Coach Gill. FRC is unbeaten in its last 7 games and has won 6 and tied 1 of these games. Next up for Feather River is Yuba on Friday when they play a doubleheader with the men's team against Yuba at home.

Women's Tie Lassen

Feather River Women's soccer team traveled to Lassen and tied Lassen 0-0. "This was definitely a great performance,"said Gill. We had played a tough game against Butte less that 24 hours ago and with only one subsitute we really had to dig into the depths of our mental fortitude. This was totally a team effort with top scorer Amber Vasquez giving up thoughts of personal glory to play left full back for the Lady Eagles. "Everyone gave their all,"said Gill. I'm really inspired by their efforts. The ladies next play at Shasta on Tuesday while both teams host Yuba next Friday

Women's Soccer Win Again

The FRC women's team won a tough hard-fought battle against conference foe Butte on Thursday at Feather River Soccer Field. Amber Vasquez and Marcia Silva scored for the Lady Eagles in a 2-1 victory. FRC is now 6-5-1 on the season and is 4-0 in conference play having won five games in a row. Next up for the Lady Eagles is Lassen College. This is a much anticipated game between two unbeaten teams in the Golden Valley Conference. The men will also travel to Lassen to play today. "This game was a real test of our character," said Coach Vinny Gill. "We did not play great but when the game was on the line our ladies really stepped up to the task and we saw how mentally strong they were. These are the games you have to win to be successful on the season."

Women Go 3-0 in Conference Play

FRC's women's soccer team made it three wins in a row with an impressive 6-1 victory over Shasta in Redding on Friday. The win leaves the Lady Eagles 3-0 in conference play with all the wins being on the road. Amber Vasquez(2), Marcia Silva, Camilla Estefano, Heather Bennett, and Kerry Yocum scored. This was Yocum's first varsity goal and her score sparked a fine performance by Feather River. "It's great to go 3-0 in conference,"said Coach Gill. "We took the wind in the first half and jumped on Shasta early. It's great that we now have a week to work on some tactics that we have been unable to do because of the number of games played." FRC is next at Marin on Friday, September 30.

Lady Eagles Defeat Butte 4-3

A goal five minutes from time by Amber Vasquez was enough to ensure a 4-3 hard-fought victory for Feather River against conference foe Butte College in Oroville on Tuesday. Vasquez leapt through a mass of players to head a corner from Heather Bennett and the Lady Eagles held off a frantic late charge by Butte to preserve the win. FRC is now 3-5-1 on the year and 2-0 in conference play having won three of its last four games. The Lady Eagles really came to life in the second half and were spurred by two remarkable goals by Marcia Silva who single handedly beat the Lady Roadrunners defense. "I was really pleased by our second half effort," said Coach Vinny Gill. We played great defense and everyone was focused. It's wonderful to be 2-0 in conference and if we can continue to keep our discipline we could go far." Next up for Feather River is Shasta on Friday in Redding.

FRC Ladies Trade in Their Basketball For a Soccer Ball

Dribbling a ball presents no problem to Katy Herrington and Kerrry Yocum - on a basketball court, that is. But for the two Virginia High School graduates, there is a new twist these days. They're both dribbling, and playing full-time, for the Feather River College women's soccer team.

Since Feather River (0-3-1) only has 11 available players, Yocum and Herrington started and played all 90 minutes for the Golden Eagles in their 1-0 loss against North Idaho Friday afternoon during the WNCC Labor Day Classic at Edmonds Sports Complex. They also played all the way Thursday as Feather River battled WNCC to a 0-0 tie.

Pretty good considering they went to Feather River to play basketball after graduating from Virginia City in June. Even more impressive considering they never played soccer up until two weeks ago.

"We had a numbers issue and we needed players, so the basketball coach (Laurel Wartluft) is letting us use three of her players," said Feather River coach Vinny Gill, whose squad currently has six players sidelined due to suspensions and injuries. "She was in a similar situation last year, so she's been very helpful."

So, what positions do they play on the soccer field? Herrington had to pause a moment before answering.

"Left middle," Herrington said, laughing. "We're not really sure."

"We're still learning," Yocum said. "It's fun. We like it, and we like the team. The players have all been great to us."

Herrington and Yocum will be with the soccer team through the entire season, then they will head right to the basketball court for the winter season.

"We knew they (the soccer team) needed players, so we offered to play. I like soccer, but it's different. Some of the things are similar. You do dribble, except with your feet."

Both played as guards for a Virginia City girls basketball team that barely missed qualifying for the 1A state tournament back in March, when the Muckers lost to Pyramid Lake 42-41 in overtime in the Northern Region semifinals. But Virginia City, a school with an enrollment that barely numbers 100 students, doesn't even offer soccer as a scholastic sport.

"We were going to go to WNCC, but they don't have a basketball team, so we went to Feather River instead," said Yocum, who earned second-team Western 1A all-conference honors in volleyball and was an honorable mention pick in basketball as a senior in 2004-05.

Despite the lack of experience, they're not playing a bad game of soccer, according to Gill.

"I think they're doing great," he said. "They still learning the concepts of the game - we had a chalkboard session yesterday - but they're getting in shape and they're playing hard."

North Idaho (2-1) broke up a scoreless battle two minutes into the second half on a a goal by Lacey Salisbury. The scoring play came off an indirect kick, with Meghan Kahnle feeding a short pass to Salisbury for the shot.

The North Idaho Cardinals out shot Feather River 36-8 in the game. Feather River goalkeeper Ashley Bennett, who also plays on the basketball team, was credited with 16 saves.

Lady Eagles Tie WNCC

Statistically, the WNCC soccer team dominated its first-ever home game against Feather River. Everywhere except in the score column. As a result, the Wildcats had to settle for a 0-0 tie on Thursday afternoon in the kickoff game of their own Labor Day Classic at Edmonds Sports Complex.

WNCC (2-0-1) enjoyed a 26-6 advantage on the shot chart - 17-0 in the second half - against a Feather River squad (0-2-1) that had 11 players to start the game and only 10 on the field for the entire second half due to an injury.

"Sometimes that's the way it goes. You shoot and you shoot, and it doesn't go in," WNCC coach Hillary Arthur said. "We had a lot of opportunities that we should have been able to capitalize on. Today just wasn't our day."

Opportunity seemed to knock throughout the second half. Jessica Maule drilled an open shot that Feather River goalkeeper Ashley Bennett stopped early. Phalon Mauntel hit a high ball that glanced off the top of the crossbar in the 69th minute. The best opportunity may have come in the 75th minute when Savannah Gray was awarded a penalty kick, but she grounded the attempt wide to the left.

The penalty kick was set up Melissa Goldfin, who brought the ball down the left side and fed a pass to Chrissy Katzorke, who then crossed the ball toward the far post, where Gray drew the foul.

"We did a good job of playing the ball down the flanks into their 18. We had some good crosses, now we just need to capitalize on those crosses," Arthur said.

Feather River coach Vinny Gill was elated with the performance of his Golden Eagles, currently short six players due to various injuries and suspensions. Among the missing players is Amber Vasquez, who had 21 goals and 11 assists last year.

"I was real pleased," Gill said. "I told the girls afterward that I was proud of the way they played. You can't ask for more effort than they gave today."

Bennett, a sophomore goalkeeper from Las Vegas (Chaparral High), was credited with 13 saves, nine in the second half. Another bright spot for Feather River was Marcia Silva, a freshman defender from Valinhos, Brazil, who was solid on the defensive end and also accounted for her team's best scoring opportunity on a shot that struck the goalpost in the first half.

"She is an exceptional player," Gill said of Silva. "Even when we only had 10 players out there, she never got down. And the thing about her, she only arrived here (from Brazil) yesterday. And we're certainly glad to have her."

Camila Estefano, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, went down with an injury inside the final 10 minutes of the first half, leaving Feather River with only 10 available players.

WNCC didn't escape the injury bug unscathed, as defender Dominique Gloude was helped off the field with a groin injury in the final 10 minutes of play.

"Dominique played a good game," Arthur said. "She's our quarterback back there. She's very good at organizing, she has good skill and good vision of the field. And she can go end to end; she can win any ball in the defensive third of the field and take it to the goal."

Her defense, coupled with WNCC's midfield play, certainly made life easy for WNCC's goalkeepers, Rachelle Goulet and Lisa Berryman. Neither had a save on the day, yet Goulet only saw six shots in the first half and Berryman saw none in the second