Oakland Soul earned their fourth consecutive win in USL W League action with a 5-2 victory over the Stockton Cargo at Merritt College on Thursday night.
In the first half, Oakland’s Kaytlin Brinkman earned a brace with a pair of goals, but the Soul’s defensive lapses created opportunities for Stockton’s Alexis Brewah to answer with two goals of her own.
Brinkman opened the scoring in the 14th minute, receiving a pass from Aliyah Jones and chipping the ball over Cargo goalkeeper Mia Collins. Brewah answered 5 minutes later, winning a ball near the penalty spot and tapping it into the wide open goal.
Brinkman and Jones teamed up again in the 38th minute to give the home side the lead, but Brewah responded two minutes later, putting home the rebound after Stockton’s first shot attempt hit the crossbar.
“Those were some major mistakes,” Soul Head Coach Jessica Clinton said after the match. “But it wasn’t just one individual, right? So, that was our really quick conversation at halftime. We just had to make sure that we organized a tad bit better. We paid attention to those moments and I think we were fine in the second half.”
Oakland’s Sam Tran broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half, but Stockton still looked dangerous on the attack.
“Getting [the third goal] so early, I think gave them a few minutes to breathe, but then Stockton started to come right back at us again,” Clinton said. “So getting the fourth goal was the breather, not the third goal. The third goal was ‘we’ve seen Stockton do this before,’ but the fourth goal gave us room.”
After a few tense moments, two more insurance goals finally came from a pair of Oakland’s second half substitutes: Nayeli Diaz in the 84th minute, and Miranda Nild in the 90th minute.
And so the Soul move on to a critical portion of their schedule, playing three matches in eight days, including two with the undefeated California Storm and another with the undefeated San Francisco Glens. Clinton has been preparing for this by limiting the minutes of many of her key players.
“I’m excited for it,” Clinton said. “I think that we have some really great teams in this league. [The Storm] are a storied program. So I’m excited for it, but I also know that we need to give some of our players rest, because we’ve been pushing some.
“But it all goes back to who both teams have as far as depth and then we play each other again. So, Sunday-Thursday it could be completely two different teams wearing the same uniform, right? I think that’s what we’re looking at.”
