Even after a rough road to the win column, the lady Beavers were a little less then satisfied with their 1-0 victory over the Santa Rosa Bear Cubs on Oct. 24

From the first kick of the game, the Beavers were on the attack to score a goal.

The Bear Cubs set up the counterattack, forcing turnovers with their rough style of play.

A lot of bone-crushing slide tackling took place.

The Beavers didn't control the ball well early in the game.

The Bear Cubs were in town for one reason: to take care of business. They provided the Beavers with power pressure defense.

"Game management," Head Coach Paul Arellanes yelled to his players on the field.

Pound for pound, the Bear Cubs had the Beavers outsized.

The Bear Cubs' captains Danielle Ayala and Erin Curry marched their

team up & down the field at will. The Beavers defense, also known as the gatekeepers, worked overtime to protect Goalkeeper Lindsay Cox, but the Bear Cubs had a key. Cox repeatedly flew through the air to halt the ball and send it the opposite direction. Rachel Mathews anchored the Beavers offense with support from Abby walker, Tiffany (Mouse) Prunty, Whitney Lundberg, and Laura Ramirez.   The Bear Cubs were always one step away to break up the Beavers plans to score.   At the end of the 1st half the score was 0 - 0.

The second half of the game was a blast of fresh air -- Jessica Reed, Angie Leporini and Mikiala Puaa Freitas jolted the Beavers defense.

ARC's Reed fought back fire with fire, playing aggressive defense. The Beavers began to dominate the game. The Bear Cubs didn't let up without a fight; throughout the game both teams knocked players to the ground.

Reckless pushing and shoving lead to ARC's Nicole Vinci talking to the referee about the pushing and pulling, And that earned her a yellow warning card.

The Bear Cubs turnovers kept the Beavers in scoring position.

Scrambling for a loose ball, Abby Walker was brought to the ground by the Bear Cubs.   Hillaree Guay faced off with goalkeeper Claire Wright for the penalty shot, making the score 1-0 late in the second half.

Despite the intense competition, no one else would score.

But the win seemed a letdown for the Beavers.

"We feel good with the win, but we didn't want to win on a PK [penalty kick]," Forward Rachel Mathews said after the game.

For the Bear Cubs, the loss didn't seem to indicate the Beavers were a better team.

"Sometimes, good teams lose on PK's [penalty kicks], " said the Bear Cubs Ayala.

As of press time, the team's overall record is 10-4-3 with a Conference 5-1-2 record.

The Beavers next home game is Friday, 3 p.m. against Sierra College.