(SAN DIEGO) One down, one to go.
PLNU Women's Soccer entered the final week of the regular season needing to win its final two matches to win a fourth PacWest title in five years.
The Sea Lions got the first one they needed in resounding fashion, defeating Westmont 4-0 on Wednesday.
"Our group was tremendous today," Head Coach
Kristi Kiely said. "We had a fantastic start on both sides of the ball. Obviously, it was Senior Day with a lot of impactful seniors who we were wanting to celebrate, but I just feel like we put a lot of pieces together today and an early goal helps with that."
Mackenzie Kimmel gave the hosts a dream start with a goal just 6:02 into the match.
Jillian Tubbs forced a save and the opposing defense cleared it only as far as Kimmel at the top of the box to curl a right-footed shot beyond the goalkeeper.
Nicki Friedman doubled Point Loma's lead 10 minutes later with a brilliant solo goal, faking a shot and cutting onto her left foot before firing a shot from distance into the back of the net.
After taking a 2-0 lead into the halftime interval,
Jillian Tubbs extended PLNU's advantage early in the second half with a first-time finish in the 52nd minute. Kimmel played a through ball to
Bethany Arabe on the right flank to square a ball across the face of goal to Tubbs at the back post to blast into the net.
Mara Sovde rounded out the scoring in the 80th minute with her third goal in four matches, knocking home an
Emma Thrapp corner kick from close range.
"Getting an early goal is helpful just to be able to settle in a little bit more, but I appreciate that our group just didn't stop," Kiely said. "We were relentless and that's what we need to be heading into the postseason should we be fortunate enough to be able to do that.
"It doesn't matter your opponent, you just have to continue to get better and better. I felt like today we took steps to get better."
Point Loma (11-3-1 overall, 7-2 PacWest) now finds itself atop the PacWest standings with 21 points, one ahead of Concordia and two in front of Hawai'i Hilo.
A win on Saturday at Fresno Pacific (7:30 p.m.) would guarantee the conference championship for Point Loma. Anything less than a win for the Sea Lions would leave their PacWest title hopes up to other results.
"Since we lost to Chaminade, I think the group has known that every game matters a great deal, no matter who we're playing," Kiely said. "We've been desperate in that way to play in the postseason. It matters a great deal to us.
"The great part is I don't think I have to change the message. I think we've had that for three weeks now that we know every game is one step closer to the end goal."
Saturday's regular season finale will offer PLNU one final chance to not only win a conference title but to also stake its claim for a top-two seed in the NCAA West Regional, with the postseason bracket being announced during Monday afternoon's selection show.
The Sea Lions are currently ranked No. 2 in the West and the top-two seeds host regional brackets.
"It's a big goal of ours and it has been one for a while," Kiely said of the possibility of hosting the regional. "We'd love to do it but we just want to be playing well into November. That's the biggest thing but we'll try to take care of all the pieces we can to give us the best opportunity to host."
