The Mariners could only dress 10 players on Friday, but for nearly 90 minutes their numbers did not matter. Marin led by scores of 1-0 and 2-1 over a full-strength Yuba College but could not quite pull off the outmanned upset. Yuba scored in the final minute of stoppage to steal away the result from the Mariners. Marin played arguably their finest match of the year but were denied late.
With only 10 players the Mariners deployed a modified 4-3-2 formation with sophomore Wendy Fulham in goal. The match took a while to take any shape as Marin's defense held strong while their offense was practically nonexistent.
The hosting Mariners got on the board first in the 27th minute. Yuliana Velazquez Signor struck a free kick towards the back post that Steffanie Flores met and shot past the goal keeper into the net for a 1-0 Marin lead.
The home team's advantage lasted just three minutes as Libby Adan pounced on a loose ball in the box and powered it past Fulham to tie the match up at 1-1 in the 30th minute.
Marin kept the pressure up and were rewarded in the 41st minute. Erica Nunez delivered a pass to Tania Hernandez whose right footed shot cleared Yuba's keeper and landed in the net for a 2-1 Mariners lead.
The lead again was short lived as Adan delivered a low cross to Estrella Silva who blasted a close range shot into Marin's goal to tie the match at 2-2.
The second half was dissimilar to the first half, as the Mariners could not muster any attack, while Yuba peppered Fulham with 15 shots. She did her best to repel them all, but the final shot in the 89th minute found a gap as Kassidy Hembree scored at the back post to give Yuba a 3-2 lead and the victory.
There was no shame in Marin's loss as the entire team battled for the full 90 minutes. Fulham made 11 saves on Yuba's 14 shots on goal. Flores scored her third goal of the year while Hernandez scored her first goal in a Mariners uniform.
The next match for Marin is against the Los Medanos Mustangs at home on Tuesday, October 8th.
