It was a bright and blustery Monday afternoon, but the windy weather did no harm to the Mariners who equaled their highest goal output of the season by scoring eight against the Merritt College Thunderbirds. The Mariners scored four goals in the first and four in the second half to cruise to an 8-2 victory, snapping their four match winless streak. The entire team was involved in the scoring as six different Mariners scored a goal and five players recorded at least one assist.
The Mariners broke the early deadlock within the first nine minutes of play as Bella Santia's flick on was corralled by Christine Wilhoyte, who shot from right to left past the Merritt keeper for the 1-0 Marin lead. Just a minute later, Tatum Robach's powerful shot deflected off the goalkeeper and fell to Kelly Santana who scored to double the Mariners advantage to 2-0.
After 20 minutes of back and forth play Marin got on the board again with Santana providing service to Wilhoyte who recorded her brace just 35 minutes into the match. Santana was the assister on Marin's next goal as she fed Michelle Godoy in the 38th minute for her first career goal. The Mariners entered halftime with a 4-0 advantage and hungry for more goals in the second half.
It took almost fifteen second half minutes for the Mariners to find the goal again. Tatum Robach had a series of excellent chances just miss the goal before she converted a shot off a pass from Michelle Godoy to give Marin a 5-0 advantage. Godoy got on the board again in the 61st minute off a pass from Disa Johannson to put Marin up 6-0. Johannson herself made it 7-0 as Godoy returned the favor with a threaded pass through the middle two minutes later. Merritt pulled one back in the 66th minute but Ana Kravitz responded for Marin, dribbling through the midfield and beating the Thunderbirds' keeper with a well-placed shot. Merritt grabbed one more just before the final whistle and the Mariners hit the locker room with an 8-2 victory in hand.
It was a day of firsts as Godoy scored the first two goals of her career while Johannson also tallied her first career score. Robach scored her 12th goal of the season while Wilhoyte added goals five and six on the year. Kravitz scored her sixth of the year and Santana her fourth of the season.
There will be no rest for the Mariners as they play the second half of a back to back against Contra Costa College at home on Tuesday, October 31st.