el Don V.93 No. 3 | Page 23

22 SPORTS SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015 SOCCER Shutouts After losing or tying every non-conference match but one, the Dons strung together three straight victories in the Orange Empire Conference. Each was a 4-0 shutout, following a 1-1 tie to open OEC play. The Dons are 3-2-2 in OEC and 4-6-4 overall. Strong goalie play kept Santa Ana College in every game, with the trio of Ismael Rivera, Andres Figueroa and Cyrus Mohseni combining for a .735 save percentage. Mohseni boasts an impressive .96 goals against average to lead the conference. The three have pitched four shutout games so far this season. Forwards David Yepez and Carlos Barrios are tied for the team lead with six goals. Yepez is in fourth place in the OEC with 16 points and leads the conference with 28 shots. Midfielder Dong Beom Seo has five goals this season as well. Seo and Barrios are tied for seventh place in the OEC with 14 points. The Dons next play at home Oct. 30 vs. the Norco College Mustangs at 3 p.m. / JORGE CAMPOS HEADACHE / Midfielder Kacee Thoren (center) has suffered about six concussions during her career. / Diana Viera / el Don TRAUMA / BY DIANA VIERA BRAIN INJURIES RISE ON THE PITCH F reshman defender Kelly Hanna never thought she would end up in the emergency room with a head injury. Following a corner play in a match earlier this season, Hanna leaped over one of her teammates after an opposing player took out her legs. Hanna landed on her upper back, as her head slammed against the turf. “I got hit really hard on my right temple. When I got up everything was kind of slow and I couldn’t hear. My blinking was slow and I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying or what was happening. “I felt disgusting actually. I felt really bad, and dizzy, and I could not walk by myself,” Hanna said. Santa Ana College’s athletic trainers have a series of procedures to follow when they suspect an athlete has sustained a head injury during play. “Our protocol is immediate removal from the game, whatever game it is. We examine them; we usually do what is called a SCAT3, which is a neurological test to see what their functions are, if they have any red flags, headaches, things like that. It tells us what state of mind they’re in, how badly they may have been injured, and we can tell then from that, did they have a concussion or was it just something else,” SAC Athletic Trainer Gary Kinney said. Concussions are the second most common injury experienced by collegiate fe- male athletes, accounting for about nine percent of the total number of injuries sustained in women’s sports, according to figures gathered by the NCAA. “This season I think we’ve only had one, but it can vary. Last year we had two, if not three,” Women’s Soccer Head Coach Jaymie Baquero said. Midfielder Kacee Thoren has a history of concussions. She wears a helmet to prevent or mitigate symptoms related to brain injuries. “At SAC I haven’t had any because they sat me out last season so I didn’t get any at SAC b WB