It was a difficult match for the Women’s National Football Team of Costa Rica, fondly known as Las Ticas, who recently surprised fans with a strong performance at the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship and World Cup Qualifiers. Once again, Las Ticas met their counterparts from Mexico; alas, they did not taste victory this time as they fell by one goal to nothing. Costa Rica was playing for a chance to earn either a gold or silver medal at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico; however, Las Ticas are now determined to bring back the bronze medal.

Tears fell on the pitch in Veracruz as Las Ticas failed to defend against a last-minute corner kick that took place during overtime. The match had gone scoreless for 90 minutes even as star players such as Shirley Cruz, one of the world’s best attacking midfielders in her category, organized incursion into Mexico’s box. Still, the Aztec princesses clearly had revenge on their mind since Costa Rica had compromised their chances during the World Cup Qualifiers, which were hosted by the United States earlier this year.

Las Ticas had good scoring opportunities during the first half, including a rocket shot on goal that hit the crossbar. From that moment on, however, the Mexican team began exploring the possibility of sailing high shots past our star goalkeeper Dinnia Diaz, who flew and hustled the entire match to avoid conceding goals. Diaz is not particularly tall, but she has been a veritable brick wall in our Women’s National Team, who were probably counting on going to a penalty kick shootout, where Diaz would surely reign supreme.

Regrettably, it was not to be. At the last minute of an arduous 0-0 match that had gone into overtime, Veronica Perez of Mexico would find an angle that opened up from a corner kick, and Las Ticas are now hoping to match up against Venezuela and bring back the bronze medal to their fans in Costa Rica. During an interview with coach Carlos Avedissian, he mentioned that the post-match atmosphere in the locker room was disconsolate: “This is a team that does not like to lose. They are hard on themselves, and they really want to bring back medals.”