The University of California, Merced women's soccer team traveled to Atherton, California Thursday afternoon to take on The Master's College on the campus of Menlo College. It was the first ever meeting between the two teams, and they will have to wait until next time to get a result, as neither team was able to break through and the score ended at 0-0.

It was something of a feeling-out process in UC Merced's first 45 minutes of the season, with neither the Bobcats or Mustangs getting more than a soft shot over the crossbar.

The second half, however, was quite the opposite.

About ten minutes in, Elizabeth Cruz beat the offsides trap, cut inside on her defender, and was tripped in the box. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the head referee saw things differently and play continued.

Cruz, who attended Menlo-Atherton High School, was again at the forefront of the attack a few minutes later when she muscled off the last defender and found herself nearly one-on-one with the keeper. She shifted her weight and tried to finesse the ball into the right corner, but put just a little too much mustard on the shot and sent it agonizingly wide. It would prove to be the Bobcats' best chance of the game. Veronica Villacorta had a comfortable game in the middle of the pitch as well, recording a game-high three shots on goal.

UC Merced's defense appeared to be in fine form for all 110 minutes though. The back four of Desiree Coles, Kelsey McLaurin, Roxy Barragan, and Tori Mollard played every minute in the tie and disrupted countless Master's attacks.

Also having a stellar game for the Bobcats was keeper Gabby Vinco. Vinco came in after 45 minutes to replace starter Maggie Morales and immediately made her presence felt, recording eight saves in the tie.

The Bobcats get tomorrow off before once again taking the trip up to Atherton on Saturday. This time they'll play the host school, Menlo College. That game starts at 2:00 PM and can be seen here.