White gets first hat trick in 6-0 rout of Hancock

Mekaylla White recorded her first hat trick and SBCC's offense came alive on Tuesday night in a 6-0 shutout of Hancock at La Playa Stadium.

The Vaqueros had been shut out in three of their previous four games and only had 13 goals in 11 games coming into Tuesday's WSC North match. SBCC improves to 5-6-1 overall and 2-1-0 in conference.

The Bulldogs fell to 5-5-4 and 1-2-1.

Sean O'Brien opened the scoring at 4:30. The Vaqueros then scored three goals in a nine-minute span to take a commanding 4-0 lead at the half.

Molly Branigan stole a pass on the left side and sent the ball to a cutting White down the middle and she scored into the right side for a 2-0 lead at 22:40. Just over three minutes later, Jessica Salas took a corner kick and the ball richocheted back to her at 25:51. She chipped the ball to defender Elin Hedstroem, who headed it in.

Less than six minutes after that, White struck again. Bulldog defenders blocked three straight shots and the ball caromed on the feet of White, who blasted in her second goal at 31:48 to make it 4-0.

"It felt very good to get a hat trick," said White, a freshman forward from Vista del Lago High in Folsom. "I was really pumped to play tonight. I just wanted to score and I was motivated to do it."

White got her hat trick at 58:30, ripping a 15-yard shot past the goalie to boost the lead to 5-0. She leads the Vaqueros with eight goals and 17 points.

Emilia Sigbratt, a freshman from Gothenburg, Sweden, got her first college goal with three minutes to play, scoring a rebound after Georgia Dover's shot bounced off the crossbar and back onto the field.

The Vaqueros outshot the Bulldogs 21-7 and dominated the shots on goal, 11-2.

"We changed it a little bit and it might not seem right that a defender changes the situation but having Courtney (Cook) back really made a difference," said coach John Sisterson. "We had more momentum going forward. With Courtney back in there, we were able to move a midfielder up and we pushed Sean and Savannah Mohatt higher and wider.

"Mekaylla is a good athlete, a strong player and technically good. It was great for her to get a hat trick and for the girls to score six after not being able to find the back of the net."

The Vaqueros are playing three games in four days. They'll host L.A. Pierce on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a makeup game and then play at Oxnard on Friday at 4 p.m.