New-look BC dominates Porterville in opener

Porterville College may have been playing its first-ever women’s soccer match, but Bakersfield College also looked like a totally new team Wednesday.

Two weeks after BC coach Edgar Linares promised “a whole new look, a whole new system” at media day, the Renegades delivered, piling on the goals in an 8-0 season-opening win over the Pirates.

“They’ve been practicing hard, and they’ve been grinding nonstop,” Linares said.

Liliana Flores completed a hat trick in her debut, Olga Amador added a brace and Crystal Ramos Rosales, Alexa Shearer and Mariah Myers-Caldarella picked up one goal each. All five players scored their first career goals; Shearer was the only sophomore to score Wednesday.

“Finally, them all getting on the field and playing against an opponent that wears a different jersey, I think kind of motivated them and uplifted them,” Linares said.

Even against a Porterville program making its debut under first-year coach Amber Hernandez, it was a startling offensive display for BC. The Renegades scored just 12 goals, and never more than two in a game, all of last season, which was Linares’ first.

They began this season on the attack. From the second minute of the game, BC was picking out unmarked forwards in the box. After a savvy long dribble to beat a defender, Camila Moncada found Myers-Caldarella open, but she couldn’t finish. Two minutes later, striker Karla Esqueda Cardona outmaneuvered Porterville’s Samantha Cavazos but only managed an awkward, slipping shot from the left side that didn’t challenge Pirates keeper Alicia Tadeo.

But with Porterville struggling to retain possession at all, let alone fire a shot at Katelyn Gonzalez, BC had plenty of time to work out its early jitters. By the 27th minute, following a water break, the Renegades had settled in. Amador took possession on a throw-in and sent a confident shot low and to the goalie’s right to break the tie.

That opened the floodgates, as the Renegades posted four more goals before halftime.

Off a free kick, Flores took a pass from Denise Ortiz Perez and curled a shot into the top corner. Then Ramos Rosales capitalized on a blunder, winning possession from an opponent goal kick and lobbing a shot over the goalie.

Three minutes later, Flores, a freshman from Highland, doubled her tally with one of the game’s highlight goals, weaving through the Pirates’ defense and sending a low, powerful shot to the left of the keeper. Everything was going BC’s way, and even an unusual 44th-minute shot from Shearer, right-footed across her body to the left, was enough to bring the score to 5-0 when the halftime whistle blew.

Porterville tightened its defensive structure in the second half and left fewer players open in the box. Outside the box, though, they were still susceptible. In the 55th minute, Flores was able to line up a practically uncontested shot from the perimeter that beat the goalkeeper.

The resurgent Renegades still created scoring opportunities all their own, however. On a free kick, Ortiz Perez played it in low from right to left, missing her intended target but finding Myers-Caldarella, who rammed it in off a bounce. Then Amador capped the game with the least conventional goal yet, hitting in a rebound off her chest in the 82nd minute.

Of course, BC also opened last season with a win, 2-1 at College of the Sequoias, before finishing the year 4-12-2. This year’s season-opening performance, though, could create additional confidence.

“(They’ll) come back hungry to come back on Friday and play Merced and just carry that throughout the whole season,” Linares said.