Giovannoni strike earns UC Merced women’s soccer a draw

Marissa Giovannoni is starting to find her form.

Injuries forced the UC Merced senior to miss the Bobcats’ first four games of the season. The striker took a little time to get back up to speed, but has caught fire in the last week.

Giovannoni found the back of the net for the third time in as many games to help Merced salvage a 1-1 draw with Embry-Riddle at Lake Field on Thursday. It was the two schools’ second meeting in six days and it elicited the exact same result, with neither California Pacific Conference power able to find a winner in 90 minutes of regulation and a pair of 10-minute overtimes.

The Bobcats (7-2-3, 2-1-2 Cal Pac), who conceded an equalizer in the 90th minute of last Saturday’s game, staged a comeback this time around. Veronica Villacorta set up Giovannoni in the 74th minute to negate a first-half goal by Embry-Riddle’s Krista Lee.

The Bobcats produced seven shots on goal to the Eagles’ three, but couldn’t manufacture a winner.

High school soccer

Pacheco 4, El Capitan 1 in Los Banos – Brian Nevarez scored twice in a wild three-goals-in-three-minutes span for the Panthers (15-4, 6-1 WAC) as they pulled away for a win over the Gauchos (3-9-2, 2-5).

The second-half strikes completed a Nevarez hat trick and gave him a Sac-Joaquin Section second-best 30 for the season.

Livingston 3, Ceres 3 in Ceres – The Wolves (9-5-1, 6-1 WAC) survived a tough road trip thanks to goals by R.C. Garcia, Christian Gonzalez and Marcos Valencia.

Livingston sits in a three-way tie for first with Pacheco and Patterson.

High school volleyball

Stone Ridge Christian 3, Millennium 1 in Tracy – Aubriana Vander Woude’s team-high 12 kills and Marina Ontis’ 17 digs and five aces helped the Knights (6-1, 3-0 CCAA) pick up a 25-20, 20-25, 25-11, 25-18 road win.

Pitman 3, Buhach Colony 0 in Turlock – Buhach Colony’s Jessica Pinasco had a team-high 11 kills and Cameron Gray chipped in nine, but the Pride (14-1, 4-0 CCC) still extended their conference winning streak to 53 with a 25-21, 25-12, 25-19 victory over the Thunder (1-3 CCC).

Golden Valley 3, Atwater 2 in Atwater – Abbee Croninger (19 kills) and Kendra Barroso (15) had monster nights as the Cougars (2-2 CCC) rallied from two sets down for their second five-set victory of the week.

College men’s water polo

West Valley 19, Merced College 11 in Merced – Caleb Rogers had a team-high five goals and Isaac Santana added two goals, six assists and five steals in a Blue Devils loss to West Valley.

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Giovannoni strike earns UC Merced women’s soccer a draw."