(SAN DIEGO)
Emma Thrapp blasted home an 87th minute penalty kick to give PLNU Women's Soccer a 1-0 win over visiting Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday afternoon.
"When you're coming at them over and over again, you hope at some point it's going to break," Head Coach
Kristi Kiely said. "You could see the relief from our players. This is a process. This season is a process. If you have enough chances, enough opportunities, enough momentum, most of the time it goes your way."
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, during which Thrapp nearly curled a free kick into the top left corner, the Sea Lions outshot the Broncos 9-4 in the second half as they pushed to break the deadlock.
Thrapp had another free kick saved, this time off the crossbar, while
Alyssa Ketcham posed a constant threat down the right flank.
Point Loma's persistence finally paid off just a few minutes before the final whistle was blown, when Ketcham beat her defender on the wing and whipped in a cross that struck the outstretched arm of a CPP defender.
Thrapp then maintained her perfect record from the penalty spot in her Sea Lions career, rattling the back of the net to put PLNU ahead.
"Credit to Alyssa for just sticking with it," Kiely said of the penalty. "She made something out of nothing with that one and forced them to make an error. It went for us in that moment which was great. Thrapp stepped up to take it and took it very well."
From there, the Point Loma defense clinched the shutout, as goalkeeper
Julia Pinnell finished the match with three saves.
"For the most part we were smart out of the back," Kiely said of her team's defense. "We changed a couple things, hoping to be more structurally sound, and I thought the girls did what we asked them to do. Julia was right in all of her decisions."
After opening the season on Saturday with a 2-2 draw with Cal State LA, Point Loma moves to 1-0-1 overall in 2023.
"We had a lot of contributors today and some who were game changers," Kiely said. "I thought
Mackenzie Kimmel came on and did a great job. The addition of
Molly Bachman was great.
Zoe Crockett always makes it really difficult for the opponent."
The Sea Lions have a quick turnaround before hitting the road for the first time this year to take on Cal State San Marcos on Saturday at 2 p.m.
"What we need at this point in the season is just some belief, some belief that our process is good" Kiely said. "Last week we didn't give LA a single shot in the run of play and that can get frustrating if you're not getting it done on the other side. I think that's the progress [from today], is just sticking with the process."
