Atherton, CA:
Valerie Comstock's third goal of the match:
Natalie Ingram's first Menlo score:
The Lady Oaks put together a truly dominating performance in their first tilt of the season this afternoon, rolling off an impressive 10-0 victory at the hands of Bethesda University of California. A career day for junior forward Valerie Comstock led the charge, as the Santa Clara native tallied three goals and three assists to propel Menlo to a perfect 1-0 start.
"It was my first goal ever in college so I'm really excited," said Comstock on the unbelievable showing, even more so when you consider the transition she has had to make from defense to a front line attacker. "It's been a big change for me, but I'm getting used to it and Scott [Myers] has been teaching me a lot, so I'm liking it now."
Comstock now has nine points after just one match. In comparison, last year's top point grabber, Steffany Dudley had 31 over the course of an entire season.
Comstock aided the first Lady Oaks score 19 minutes and 35 seconds into the clash, finding fellow junior Tiare Fuentes who took care of the rest in giving Menlo a 1-0 advantage. The goal sparked a similar trend as the Oaks would go on to find the back of the net two more times over the next six and a half minutes, with Comstock doing the honors on both occasions. Newcomer Erika Savela capped off the first half scoring barrage with a heat seeking missile into the back of the net for her first career Menlo score.
The second half began just like the first one ended as the Lady Oaks put two more on the board within the first ten minutes. Amanda Martinez put her first collegiate goal in the books less than seven minutes into the second stanza, and then Comstock was at it again three and a half minutes later. The aforementioned Erika Savela picked up an assist on the Comstock score, while newcomer Natalie Ingram accounted for the assist on the Martinez goal.
It was just the beginning for Ingram, as the junior defender would find the back of the net twice in the span of just three minutes towards the end of the affair. Ingram blasted one well outside the box with 8:46 remaining, that just eluded the leaping try of goal keeper Jen Agustiniano. 180 seconds later, she did it again for her first two goals of her Lady Oaks career.
"My two goals showed that we really fight as a team," said Ingram who stepped up from her defensive position to light up the scoreboard. "When the defenders come up, we know we have support from the rest of our team."
The finishing touches on the blowout decision came just before the final minute when freshman forward Raquel DeJesus put one past the goalkeeper on a beautiful ball by fellow freshman Jessica Magallon.
Defensively Menlo came to play, with junior goal keeper Whitney Galindo forced to make just three saves, all in the first half in route to the shutout victory.
"First of all I have a great deal of respect for Bethesda, they never gave up," said third year Head Coach Scott Myers on today's outcome. "It was a good game from start to finish. We took the principles learned in practice and used them today. It showed if we do that we can be successful."
The Lady Oaks will pack their bags and head to Washington to play three games in the span of just four days. The first will take place on Friday, August 31st against Northwest College at 4:00pm.
