Oakland Soul battled for ninety minutes to remain undefeated in a tough matchup with Cal Storm Sunday afternoon at Merritt College, winning the match 3-2 and earning all three points to stay ahead of the Storm in the USL W League standings.
Cal started the scoring in the 12th minute when Storm’s Giana Riley chipped a shot that elevated just over Oakland netminder Layla Armas’s outstretched hands.
But Soul were ready with an answer that came only two minutes later when Kaytlin Brinkman scored what was her third goal in two games to knot the score back up at one when she buried a rebound off of the Storm’s keeper in the 14th minute of the match.
Storm looked to regain the lead and Riley looked to pick up her second goal of the match when Cal were awarded a penalty kick in the 37th minute, but the shot rang off the left post and Soul cleaned up the rebound to keep the game level.
Soul came out from the locker room looking hungry for a goal, and after putting pressure on Storm’s defense Oakland was rewarded in the 49th minute with a Jaida Nyby goal.
Oakland was not satisfied with this, and continued to apply pressure resulting in a goal from Nayeli Diaz less than a minute later to put Soul ahead 3-1.
Soul looked to smother the Storm and ride the clock out to victory, and while Storm were able to get one back in the form of a Savannah Schwarze goal in the 58th minute, their comeback came up short.
Oakland will now head on the road, looking to continue their unbeaten streak and stay neck-in-neck with first place SF Glens when they face the Storm again in a rematch on Thursday, June 8th.
Oakland Soul return home on Sunday, June 18th to play Pleasanton Rage at Merritt College with kickoff scheduled for 2:00 PM PT.
Oakland Roots SC vs California Storm
USL W League | June 4, 2023
Venue: Merritt College, Oakland, California
Kickoff: 2:00 PM PT
Weather: 72 degrees, sunny
SCORELINE:
OAK: 3
CAL: 2
SCORING SUMMARY:
CAL: 12’ Giana Riley
OAK: 14’ Kaytlin Brinkman
OAK: 49’ Jaida Nyby
OAK: 50’ Nayeli Diaz
CAL: 58’ Savannah Schwarze
OAKLAND SOUL LINEUP: Layla Armas, Aaliyah Schinaman (Clare Robke), Eden White, Sydney Shepherd (Mia Parkhurst), Malia Yamamoto, Henar Urteaga, Kaytlin Brinkman (Jaida Nyby), Tatiana Cunningham (Nayeli Diaz), Sarah Mirr, Eden Olson (Samantha Tran), Miranda Nild
Unused subs: Zoe Parkhurst, Maleni Morales