After knocking off one undefeated team last Friday night 2-1 over Merced College, the Reedley College women's soccer team could host another one on Friday night in Reedley.

But before Reedley can match up with Clovis, they have to get past the College of the Sequoias Giants on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 19) in Visalia.

The first state rankings by the California Community College Sports Information Directors Association were released on Sept. 13, the Tigers were not on the list. But their Friday opponent, the Merced College Blue Devils were at number 12. Reedley pulled out a 2-1 win, handing Merced its first loss of the young season.

"It was a good performance," wrote Coach Onesta Francis in a Sunday afternoon text message. "Especially the first 25-30 minutes included probably the best passing sequences we've seen all season."

Tamariz scored the first goal of her collegiate career at the end of a 6-pass sequence that included some fancy footwork from Joeline Nuno (Fowler).

Francis added that after giving up a goal due to some poor communication in the back, we took a step back and Merced started to control the play more. The team showed some heart though and it stepped it up in the last 20 minutes, including a scrappy goal from Krysta Casas (Dinuba) after a nice through ball from Nazira Nunez (Visalia). (Visalia) Jolene Tamariz (Tulare) had a big game defensively with five interceptions and five tackles. Isabella Martinez (Dinuba) also had five tackles. in her first came back from injury, Velasquez (Santa Maria) set the tone with four headers.

Reedley (2-0, 5-1) is joined in first place by Clovis (5-0 overall) and West Hills Lemoore (3-3).  This should prove to be a big week for the Tigers.  

By Will Goldbeck.