Dons Beat Norco 4-1 for First Conference Victory

Kelly Hanna clears the ball past a Norco forward in the Dons 4-1 win. Hanna scored the first goal of the match in the 21st minute.
Kelly Hanna clears the ball past a Norco forward in the Dons 4-1 win. Hanna scored the first goal of the match in the 21st minute.

SANTA ANA - The Dons picked up their first Orange Empire Conference victory with a 4-1 win over Norco College. The win improves the Dons to 5-4-0 on the season and 1-3-0 in conference while Norco drops to 2-6-0 overall and 0-4-0 in conference.

Kelly Hanna scored the first goal of the match for the Dons when she snuck a low shot past Norco's defense on a free kick just outside of the box in the 21st minute. Kacee Thoren sent the Dons into halftime with a 2-0 lead when she scored in stoppage time on an assist from Melissa Gamboa. Thoren's shot was into an empty goal as Gamboa sent a pass through the box that found Thoren on the far post.

It didn't take long for the Dons to extend their lead to 3-0 in the second half with Makenna Roa and Thoren combining on the assist to set up Gabriela Rodriguez for the goal in the 47th minute. Roa sent a cross in from just outside the box to Thoren who controlled the ball down to Rodriguez's feet for the shot.

Norco scored its first goal when Angelina Cervantes scored on an open goal in the 50th minute on an assist from Tiana Espinoza. But Roa would give the Dons a three-goal lead again the 68th minute when she took a long pass from Gamboa and lofted a shot over the goalkeeper from about 30-yards out.

Cristina Lizarraga played the entire 90 minutes for the Dons and made five saves while allowing one goal. Brenda Guillen replaced Natalie Ayala just six minutes into the match for Norco and made one save while allowing four goals. Ayala made one save in the limited time she saw.

Video of the Dons two second half goals.