(SAN MARCOS, Calif.) Not even last-minute schedule changes could throw PLNU Women's Soccer off its game in its season opener on Thursday, as No. 1 Point Loma defeated Cal State Marcos 2-1 on the road.
The match moved from Point Loma to San Marcos less than a week ago because of an unexpected delay in the renovation project of PLNU Soccer Field. Then late on Wednesday, the match start time was moved up from 12:30 p.m. to 10 a.m. to avoid excessive heat.
"Thanks to CSUSM for being willing to host last minute," Head Coach
Kristi Kiely said. "Given the entirety of the situation, I'm proud of our group for the win. I think we all would have liked to have seen more consistency between the halves.
"In the first half we created quite a few quality chances, made good decisions with the ball and competed well. We needed to create more quality chances in the second half and will look to get better in that area."
Goals in either half were enough to seal the victory, with the goals coming from
Jillian Tubbs and
Lily Larez.
Tubbs scored Point Loma's first goal of the new season in the 29th minute to put the visitors up by one at the half, before Larez doubled PLNU's lead with her first collegiate goal in the 51st.
"Our goals were really good," Kiely said. "Bethany carried the ball down the field and Alana made a great run. Alana served a great ball across the box and Jill was there to finish it.
"Alana was also involved in our second goal, as she slipped the ball past two defenders to
Andrea Lozano, who served it across the box for a lovely first-time finish by
Lily Larez."
CSUSM got one back in the 58th minute but it wasn't enough to prevent PLNU from winning its season opener.
Point Loma (1-0 overall) next hosts Central Washington on Saturday at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
"I'm proud of our goals, of our control of the match in the first half and of our mentality to handle the adversity," Kiely said. "Now we must turn our attention to a good Central Washington team."
