Samo Girls' Soccer Ties Culver City 1-1

Samo girls' soccer team faced one of its toughest competitors in league in a match against Culver City High School on Friday, Jan.17. As soon as the game started, it was clear that it was going to be a hard fight between two relatively equally matched teams.Samo was able to pull ahead and penetrate Culver City's defense toward the beginning of the first half when center defender Janet Coleman-Belin ('15) scored. Within the next 10 minutes, this goal was returned by one of Culver City's forwards. Both teams kept up the pressure throughout the rest of the half, hoping to come into the second half with a lead. Nevertheless, neither team was able to score and the half ended with a 1-1 tie."At that moment, I had hope. I knew we could take on Culver City and all we had to do is relax, pass and move, and take shots," Hannah McNally ('15) said.Both teams went into the second half ready to fight for what they believed could be another win to add to their streaks. The half was a long one, full of skilled attacks and strong defense. However, despite both teams' efforts, no goals were scored and the second half ended at a 1-1 tie.Samo then proceeded to play two ten-minute halves of overtime. By this point, the game had developed into an extremely physical match, which, coupled with the uncharacteristically high temperatures of January, resulted in a very emotional 20 minutes. Both Samo and Culver created many scoring opportunities, but neither was able to score thanks to the saves made by their keepers."[Going into overtime], I knew that we deserved to win, and that even though we had chances to finish the game before, we needed to just go in and score as soon as possible," Coleman-Belin said.Samo fought the entire 20 minutes for a win. Regardless of the team's tough efforts, however, the 100 minute fight did not produce a winner and the game ended with a score of 1-1.friosfetchko@tehesamohi.com