Santa Rosa Junior College battled it out last Wednesday at home against rivals Diablo Valley College beating them 11-3 on Oct. 19.

The Bear Cubs started slow missing several shots at the beginning of the first quarter. DVC’s Gracie Bishop stopped several shots from entering their goal.

“We kept missing shots early in the game,” said coach Chelsea Hennan. “The ball kept hitting the bar and their goalie kept blocking our shots.”

Soon the Bear Cubs settled in and scored three goals giving them a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Maggie Selzer scored first for the Bear Cubs with an assist from Logan Amadon.

“DVC is a very physical team,” Selzer said. “It felt good to score first to show them we were ready for them.”

The Bear Cubs defense was at its best. Goalie Shannon Whetzel made several saves in the first quarter.

“Our defense played tough,” Whetzel said. “We stopped DVC from scoring any goals in the first quarter.”

SRJC’s Annika Erickson finished the first quarter scoring two goals, one with an assist from Whetzel.

“Our coach gave us a positive mindset going into the game,” said Erickson. “Her support makes us push hard through the game.”

In the second quarter DVC came back and dominated, outshooting the Bear Cubs.

“They started coming back,” said Julia Kennedy. “We had to step up on defense and play much harder.”

Micah Baird and Caroline Lovett of DVC scored back-to-back against the Bear Cubs giving SRJC a one point lead.

DVC’s aggressive style frustrated the Bear Cubs throughout the game.

“They were very physical, scratching and pulling on us,” Erickson said. “There were several calls that should’ve been called but, we just shook it off and played harder.”

At the end of the half Selzer scored the final goal giving the Bear Cubs a 4-2 lead.

In the third quarter, the Bear Cubs’ defense came out strong, and had more passes on the perimeter instead of forcing the ball into the center.

Bear Cubs’ Gabi Edman and Julia Kennedy each scored extending SRJC’s lead to 6-2.

“We came out firing shots,” Kennedy said. “We knew the second half had to be ours and we needed to keep our momentum going.”

Leading into the fourth quarter DVC’s energy was high. Gisselle Castellanos of DVC made a goal making the score 6-3.

The Bear Cubs responded quickly scoring five goals sending them away with a 11-3 victory.

Annika Erickson scored twice along with Julia Kennedy and Selzer each scoring one goal.

“We’re a fourth quarter team,” said Shannon Whetzel. “The final quarter is when we’re at our best and we give it all we got.”

SRJC’s faces off on the road against Modesto Junior College at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 26.