(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) No. 24 PLNU Women's Soccer completed an unbeaten conference regular season with a 4-0 victory at Westmont on Saturday afternoon, capturing its sixth PacWest title in eight seasons.
Point Loma (10-2-5 overall, 7-0-2 PacWest) scored all four of its goals in the second half, with
Nikki Ross,
Madison Khan,
Riley Johnson and
Kylee Jerome finding the back of the net to put an exclamation point on yet another conference crown for the Sea Lions, who end the regular season on a six-match winning streak and an 11-match unbeaten run overall.
"It's hard work to have some of the experiences we had early on," Head Coach
Kristi Kiely said of the team's 1-0-2 start to conference play. "It's physical, mental and emotional work to stay at it every game, to know that every game matters because of where you put yourself with early results.
"We also really trust the process. We had to learn hard early and the group did a good job of applying the things that we learned. We're fortunate enough to be in the position we are."
PLNU was held scoreless in the first half despite a 15-1 advantage in shots. However, Point Loma drew a Westmont red card with just 15 seconds remaining in the half, as Johnson got past her defender and had her jersey pulled from behind.
Upon replay review, the center official issued a red card because of a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, meaning Point Loma had a player advantage for the final 45 minutes.
With that numerical advantage and a PacWest championship within grasp, the Sea Lions were relentless after halftime, with four different players getting on the scoresheet.
"It's certainly a bummer for them to get a red card and I thought we did a good job taking advantage of that moment," Kiely said. "We've all been a part of these games where you're knocking on the door, you're getting opportunities and it's not going in. We've been a part of those games this year.
"We talked about just being relentless, 'Every time the ball goes out, get it in fast. Everything's fast; nothing is frantic, but everything is urgent.'"
In the 60th minute,
Maddy Saruwatari beat her defender on the left flank and crossed to
Priya Torres, who laid the ball off to Ross to finish first time and put the Sea Lions in front.
Khan then latched onto a loose ball in the box and poked in PLNU's second goal just eight minutes later.
In the 74th, Johnson got on the end of a ball played over-the-top from
Emma Naftzger, getting around Westmont defenders and the opposing goalkeeper to finish with her left foot.
Jerome then rounded out the scoring with a left-footed finish from Naftzger's cross in the 83rd minute.
PLNU outshot WC 31-2 in the match, as the Sea Lions' defense kept its fourth straight shutout to close out the regular season.
Point Loma, with double-digit wins for the eighth straight year, will be the No. 1 seed in the PacWest Championships next week in Hilo, Hawai'i.
PLNU will play the tournament's No. 4 seed Biola on Thursday at 11 a.m. HT / 1 p.m. PT. The winner will advance to the conference tournament championship on Saturday at 12 p.m. HT / 2 p.m. PT against either No. 2 seed Concordia or No. 3 seed Hawai'i Hilo.
"It's a 'Well done' and 'We have to do it again,'" Kiely said. "It's interesting because as exciting as it is, we play for the moments beyond this one. We're grateful to have the opportunity to do that and we look forward to it.
"We can celebrate a little bit here, but we have to be ready for the games that decide whether you're done or not here in a few days."
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
