(SAN FRANCISCO) In a miraculous return from injury,
Chase Bibbey scored twice in her first appearance in nearly a year to lead No. 18 PLNU Women's Soccer to a 4-0 road win over Academy of Art on Thursday.
"Chase is a team favorite and her journey through injury makes this moment even more exciting," Head Coach
Kristi Kiely said. "I'm proud of her to come back and make an impact today the way she did."
Bibbey has been limited to just 16 appearances in her Sea Lion career because of various injuries, but has been an impact player whenever she's stepped on the field. Back in 2019, she scored the game-winning goal in the second round of the NCAA Regional against top-seeded UC San Diego.
"For being a defender, she's always been very productive in front of goal," Kiely said.
Zoe Crockett opened the scoring for Point Loma, ranked second in the West Region, in the 18th minute with her sixth goal of her freshman campaign.
Emma Rogers played a ball out wide right to
Jillian Tubbs, who beat her defender one-versus-one before squaring a ball across the six-yard box for Crockett to put away.
"Jillian had important minutes today," Kiely said. "She had a great assist on the first goal and continued to threaten their back line throughout the match."
While Rogers wasn't credited with an assist on the opening goal, she earned three assists in the second half, as all three of PLNU's second-half goals came on corner kicks.
"
Emma Rogers had great delivery today on set pieces, which is how we got to goal today," Kiely said.
The first of those three came in the 60th minute, with Rogers finding
Jensen Shrout at the back post for Shrout to score her first Sea Lion goal.
"Jensen's header was very powerful and well-taken," Kiely said.
That set the stage for Bibbey to score twice off corner kicks, in the 78th and 88th minutes, and cap off a dominant display from Point Loma, which saw the Sea Lions outshoot the Urban Knights 27-0.
Julia Pinnell and
Laine Moraes combined for PLNU's seventh shutout of the season.
"I'm glad to get the win today and walk away with a couple new folks to add to the goal count," Kiely said.
Point Loma (11-2-4 overall, 6-1-2 PacWest) closes out the regular season on Saturday at Dominican, with a win clinching second place in the conference for the Sea Lions. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in San Rafael.
