SANTA ANA, Calif. – The No. 10 ranked Santa Ana women's soccer team opened Orange Empire Conference play against the No. 5 ranked Santiago Canyon Hawks (5-0-1, 1-0) on Tuesday afternoon.
Santa Ana (6-1) played the reigning state champions tough but came up short as the Hawks scored a goal in the 88th minute to go up 2-1, stopping the Dons winning streak at six.
Ariana Figueroa put away her first goal of the season with her left foot in the 20th minute on a lead pass from Lauryn Wood. The Hawks quickly countered with the tying goal from Brianna Diaz just six minutes later.
From there, the teams battled and forth until Santiago Canyon finally broke the tie on a goal by Tara Hansel that barely slipped by the outreached hands of goalkeeper Stephanie Hernandez.
Santa Ana made some incredible defensive plays including a sliding tackle by Lauryn Wood, a goal saving clear out by Vanessa Zarate and several saves from Hernandez, but couldn't fight off all 13 shots the Hawks got off. Hernandez finished with a season high six saves but took her first loss as a goalkeeper in a SAC uniform.
NEXT UP: The Dons will host Saddleback (3-2-2, 0-0-1) in another Orange Empire Conference match on Friday at 2:00 p.m. Saddleback started OEC play with a 1-1 tie against Cypress (6-0-1, 0-0-1) on Tuesday.
