(AZUSA, Calif.) An Alana Diaz double helped No. 6 PLNU Women's Soccer bounce back from its first loss of the season and finish its non-conference schedule on a high note with a 3-0 road win over Azusa Pacific on Saturday night.
 
"I'm very proud of the group today for a tremendous response to our midweek game," PLNU Head Coach Kristi Kiely said. "But honestly any test against a conference opponent, especially APU, is going to bring that out of you. What I'm most proud of is that we got better in ways we wanted to before conference."
 
The Sea Lions, who will enter PacWest play with a 5-1-2 overall record, scored all three goals in the second half to overcome the Cougars.
 
Alana Diaz scored a brace, with goals coming in the 51st and 66th minutes, while Emma Thrapp added the team's third from the penalty spot in the 73rd.
 
Diaz' first goal came after Mara Sovde pressed the APU backline and picked the pocket of a dribbling defender. Sovde then played the ball forward to Diaz, who was momentarily slowed down by the opposing defense. But Diaz was able to shimmy around her defender and create enough space to get a shot off from the right side of the box, which she blasted inside the far post.
 
PLNU's All-PacWest forward then scored her second of the match, taking her team-leading tally to four on the season, when Taylor Christenson's cross from the right flank was failed to be dealt with by the opposing defense. APU's clearance looped into the air to Diaz at the top of the box, where she brought the ball down past a defender and clinically slotted past the goalkeeper.

Alana Diaz took her tally to a team-leading 4⃣ goals for the season with her second-half brace against APU. pic.twitter.com/RQtGcZfRd0

— PLNU Sea Lions (@PLNUSeaLions) September 25, 2022

 
"Alana put in a shift this evening," Kiely said. "She was very effective in her play and efficient in her finishing. I'm glad for her to get those tonight. She took the opportunities well."
 
PLNU's third goal came after Zoe Crockett won a penalty kick for the Sea Lions, beating the goalkeeper to a softly hit back pass before being brought down inside the box. Thrapp then calmly slotted her spot kick for her second goal of the campaign.
 
Goalkeeper Julia Pinnell made five saves to maintain her third shutout.
 
"I also want to express how proud I am of our back five," Kiely said. "What we ask them to do on both sides of the ball is a lot and tonight they played very well."
 
Point Loma opens up its PacWest schedule against Fresno Pacific at home on Oct. 1. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
 
"I'm proud of the team for the resiliency they've shown this preseason and for the work they've put in," Kiely said. "We've been tested in good ways and we've learned. We've gotten results and haven't gotten others, and all of it is important as you head into conference play."