PRESCOTT, Ariz. – With a hint of fall weather in the air on Saturday afternoon at Ken Lindley Field, the Yavapai College women's soccer team defeated the Mesa Community College Thunderbirds 7-1 to record its fifth-consecutive victory. 

"We have been playing well and have been consistently creating different scoring opportunities with different players," Head Coach Rozie DeWeese said after Saturday's win. "We've been focusing on being sharper in our attacking half and keeping the game tempo high. The players have done a good job of implementing our training concepts into games and it's been fun to watch our daily improvement."

With six games left in the regular season, the Roughriders now sit at 7-4 overall and 5-1 in conference games. 

Two minutes into Saturday's contest, sophomore forward Emma Young received a throw in and moved the ball deep into Mesa territory, before hitting fellow freshman forward Jayla Colbert with a perfect cross pass. Colbert promptly delivered the ball to the back of the Mesa net and YC grabbed a quick 1-0 lead. 

10 minutes later, sophomore forward Julie Reyes launched a long shot on goal, forcing the Mesa goalkeeper to full-extension dive to stop the shot. The save, however, was not made without a rebound attempt and Colbert was waiting right at the doorstep to cash in on her second goal of the day and give the Roughriders a 2-0 lead. 

The pair of goals by Colbert gives her five on the season while Young grabbed her second assist and Reyes grabbed her team-leading fifth assist. 

Right after the first half water break, Young posted a shot that found the foot of freshman forward Ciara Webbe. Webbe then played the ball over to freshman midfielder Annalyce Romero who fired a beautiful shot on net to score her first goal of the season and give the Roughriders a 3-0 lead. Webbe's assist on the play was her first helper of the season. 

Three minutes after Romero's goal, Young was in the middle of the action again and sent a shot off the Mesa keeper after a corner kick, forcing a rebound that went right to freshman defender Ava Manwill who tapped the ball into the open cage for her third goal of the season while Young collected her second assist of the day and third of the season. 

Manwill was not done after the fourth YC goal of the day as she scored once more with just under eight minutes left to play in the first half. This time, freshman forward Victoria Taylor wound up for a booming shot towards the Mesa net and, once again, Manwill was able to gather the rebound and deposit it into the Mesa net for her second score of the day and fourth of the season. It was also Taylor's first assist of the season. 

At the break, YC led 5-1 after seeing Mesa score with two minutes left to play in the first half. 

Five minutes after halftime with five YC goals already on the scoreboard, the next Roughrider goal turned out to be one of historical significance. 

After a bad goal kick, the ball eventually found Julie Reyes who spun, blew past three defenders and went far side past the Mesa keeper for a highlight-reel goal to give YC a 6-1 lead. 

Reyes' goal was the 17th of her career at YC, breaking the program record for goals scored, previously held by Emma Alvarez. It was also Reyes' 11th goal of the season which also ties her with Alvarez for most goals scored in a single season. 

Seven minutes after her record-breaking goal, Reyes was at it once more for good measure. This time, she launched a long shot on goal and the rebound found Webbe who promptly scored her fifth goal of the season while Reyes collected her team-leading sixth assist of the season. 

Neither team scored in the final 30 minutes of play and YC walked away with the aforementioned 7-1 victory. 

Freshman goalkeeper LJ Hempel collected the win inside of the net, her seventh of the season, while fellow freshman goalkeeper Yadxiry Navarrete locked down the final 15 minutes of the match. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Tuesday, September 26, at home where they will face the Glendale Community College Gauchos with gametime set for 3:30 p.m.