June 6, 2026

By Mary DeMartini

FINAL SCORE: Pleasanton RAGE 1, Oakland Soul 2

Merritt College: RAGE earned its first goal in another close match against Soul. RAGE continued to improve its offensive playmaking, with Ava Steven scoring the first goal of the season. Ultimately, Soul won its second meeting due to a penalty kick and late breakaway. Sofia Canepa won Player of the Match for her outstanding defender performance.

COACH’S QUOTE:

“We switched into a 1-3-5-2 formation, and the team executed it very well, especially in our defensive moments,” Fawcett said. “We limited Oakland’s ability to build out of the back and controlled many areas of the game. Once again, we created several quality chances, but we need to be more clinical in front of goal. The positive takeaway is that we scored our first goal of the season from a well-worked corner kick, with Marta delivering a great ball and Ava finishing it off. There were a lot of encouraging signs in our performance, and the players continue to show growth and commitment to the way we want to play. Now it’s about turning those chances into goals and building on the positives moving forward.”

HOW IT HAPPENED:

First Half:

    • 9:45 – The first of many RAGE corners taken by Marta Pelegrin. The kick led to a close shot by Ashleigh Carroll.
    • 11:45 – A Soul breakaway was stopped by Sydney Head’s first save of the match.
    • RAGE continued to keep possession and create goal scoring opportunities. A corner at 14:00 created and taken by Rylan Park led to a close shot missing on the left side.
    • Several deep runs by Soul resulted in 2 close shots in the 26th minute.
    • 31:50 – Goal for Soul after being awarded a penalty kick.
    • 36:00 – Diving save by Head as Soul tries to expand their lead.
    • Pelegrin and Addison Posey both recorded shots on goal in the 43rd and 44th minute of the match.

Compared to their last meeting with Soul, RAGE settled the ball much earlier into the match, leading to longer offensive possessions and more goal-scoring opportunities in the half. Hungry for its first goal, RAGE played aggressively, playing Steven up in an offensive formation. Ultimately, it was Soul who scored, although RAGE controlled the ball for the majority of the half.

Second Half:

    • 47:45 – RAGE started out strong with another close shot by Posey.
    • 57:00 – Soul earned another penalty kick. With a diving save, Head deflected the shot out of bounds. Head also recorded two prior saves in the half.
    • 67:30 – Yellow card for Soul after a foul on Pelegrin led to a RAGE penalty kick. The kick narrowly missed, but created the first of 3 RAGE corners in a row.
    • 69:30 – RAGE scored its first goal of the season! The goal was scored off of the 3rd corner kick, assisted by Pelegin and shot by Steven, tying the game 1-1.
    • 70:30 – Goal for Soul off of a quick breakaway.
    • RAGE temporarily lost control of the ball, but played very aggressively during the end of regulation, with Steven playing as forward instead of center back.
    • As regulation time ended, Soul was controlling the ball.
    • 92:00 – RAGE had two final shot attempts, with one very close shot by Steven.

In Soul’s Pride Night game, RAGE suffered another close loss. Despite a similar scoreline, RAGE and Soul played a much more evenly matched game then their first meeting. RAGE improved in settling the ball, moving it upfield, and creating opportunities inside the scoring third of the field.