All season the SRJC women’s soccer team has laid the foundation for a deep run into the playoffs in its quest for a state title. Hard work and dedication early in the season combined with experience from victories over competitive non-conference opponent’s City College of San Francisco and Skyline College gave the team a fifth straight Big 8 conference championship. It also gave them an overall record of 15-1-3 while helping prepare the team for a grueling schedule.
Conference play was fierce and the team was battle tested, achieving an outstanding conference record of 10-1-3 while facing rivals Diablo Valley, Modesto and Cosumnes River.
Their work  has paid off and now the Lady Bear Cubs have earned the number one seed and will have home field advantage throughout the 2011 CCCAA women’s soccer NorCal regional playoffs.
“Typically in the JC games, teams have to travel the day of. They have to get up a bit earlier and get on a bus. San Joaquin Delta College has to come here on our field with our fans, huge advantage to play at home,” head coach Luke Oberkirch said.
The Big 8 conference has recognized the superb play of sophomore forward Cara Curtin and awarded her an All-Conference selection and Outstanding Offensive Player of the Conference. Cara led the state with 28 goals as well as points, accumulating 67. Also named to the All-Conference team was sophomore goalkeeper Tara Funk who is dominating in the cage and is one of the top three goalies in the state. She allowed only seven goals this season and had a remarkable 0.43 goals against average, nearly twice as good as any other keeper in the conference.
Sophomores Lauren Curtin, Lisa Shaw and Cami James as well freshman Alex Coffaney round out the rest of the Lady Bear Cub’s All-Conference selections. Midfielder Lauren Curtin, played a solid season finishing tied for 14th in the state and fourth in conference with 12 goals scored.
The Lady Bear Cubs are peaking right now, riding a six game winning streak and having not lost since September. Round one of the playoffs was a showdown against number 16 seed Delta on Nov. 19.
SRJC will host round 2 against the winner of the Evergreen Valley and American River match on Nov. 22. If the Lady Bear Cubs win that game they would host round 3 on Nov. 26, hopefully earning a win and advancing to the CCCAA state championship Dec. 2-4 in Sacramento at Cosumnes River College.
Admissions to playoff games at SRJC are $8 general and $5 for seniors, children and students with I.D.