(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Women's Soccer posted its second-straight shutout victory by a margin of 3-0, defeating Dominican on Monday afternoon in PacWest action.
"I'm glad for the result," Head Coach Kristy Kiely said. "We scored some really good goals and had some really good minutes. I think we still have some areas to improve in and that's great. We'll keep working on those and continue to get better."
The win came nine days after its last game, a convincing victory at No. 5 Hawai'i Hilo.
"The last game was a really big one on the road with a lot of days off after," Kiely said. "You have to figure out how to mentally get up for it and get back into the rhythm of games. I thought in that way we did a good job."
Emma Thrapp got the hosts on the board in just the sixth minute directly off a corner kick with an olimpico goal.
"I think an early goal relieves pressure on our backs and puts you at ease a little bit," Kiely said. "I think also for us we want to keep going forward and attack and attack. It doesn't mean we take our foot off the gas. It just means our backs can breathe for a second. Really, we want to keep going and going and going. I think they did that well until the final whistle."
Zoe Crockett then made it two in the 39th minute with a composed finish.
Grace Nelson played
Alyssa Ketcham out wide right to take on her defender and serve a ball to Crockett, who took a touch with her back to goal before spinning onto her left foot and tucking her shot inside the far post.
Crockett hit the post later in the half, as PLNU took a 2-0 lead into the interval.
Mara Sovde then rounded out the scoring in the 61st minute, heading
Nikki Ross' free kick off the crossbar before finishing the rebound that bounced straight back into her path.
"I appreciate that our goals are coming from a variety of different positions," Kiely said. "I think it's great because it makes it difficult to defend. I love that it's a wide variety."
The Sea Lions created several other chances to score, but their three-goal cushion was more than enough for a defense that kept its seventh shutout of the year.
"I thought
Jensen Shrout had some really good minutes in the back," Kiely said. "
Julia Pinnell has been really sharp. Our backs do a lot of work. They're so responsible for beginning what we do with the ball.
"Then they have to also defend, so I'm thankful that attacking players and certainly Thrapp were able to get some on the board to relieve some pressure for our backs as well."
Point Loma (9-3-1 overall, 5-2 PacWest) returns to PLNU Soccer Field on Thursday to host Academy of Art at 3:30 p.m.
"We know we have to win and that's it," Kiely said. "We know the job that has to be done and we have to do that against some tough opponents.
"To Dominican's credit, I thought they defended us in a different way than others have and we had to sort through that. We did eventually and that's what it's going to be. We're going to have to figure out how to win with three more games to go."
