(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Women's Soccer opened PacWest play with a 2-0 shutout victory over Chaminade on Thursday in the conference opener for both teams.
Point Loma scored a goal in each half, with
Gianna Masinter and
Leah Uezato finding the back of the net for the Sea Lions, who extended their winning streak to three matches.
"We played a very tough Concordia side this weekend and it certainly felt like we had some tired legs to start, and credit to Chaminade who gave us quite a challenge," Head Coach
Kristi Kiely said. "We stuck with it, got a lot of opportunities and looks at goal, and were finally able to put a couple away."
The Sea Lions outshot the Silverswords 10-1 in the first half and were rewarded in the 39th minute when Masinter broke the deadlock with her first goal of the season.
Abby Buys played
Riley Johnson through on the right wing to beat her defender and serve a ball to Masinter, who volleyed home to put the hosts in front.
"We were down a couple players today due to injury, so we needed Gianna in a different position back to where she started her freshman year as a 10, and she was able to put one away off a lovely cross from Riley," Kiely said. "I would give Gianna a lot of credit for the whole goal – she took the ball down, got us out initially and switched, Abby played a great ball early to Riley and Riley had fantastic service, then Gianna was able to finish.
"That helped with the feeling of us getting so many opportunities and not being able to capitalize, and we finally did."
In the second half,
Leah Uezato rattled the crossbar from a free kick just outside the area before finding the back of the net in the 76th minute to double PLNU's advantage.
Abby Wright crossed the ball across the goal to Uezato, who had her initial shot blocked but she stayed with it to make it 2-0 with her first career PLNU goal after overcoming a season-ending injury last year.
"Leah has been working really hard," Kiely said. "It's been a lot of peaks and valleys in her journey here, but she cares deeply and I'm excited for her. She got a lot of great service off today too."
Uezato and Masinter both nearly scored for a second time in the final minutes before the Sea Lions sealed their second shutout in three games.
With Uezato and Masinter finding the back of the net, nine different Sea Lions have now scored this season.
PLNU outshot CUH 18-3 in the game, including 11-2 in shots on goal, with goalkeeper
Cameron Simmons making a save in each half to preserve the shutout.
Point Loma (4-2-3 overall, 1-0 PacWest) returns to the PLNU Soccer Field on Saturday to host Hawai'i Pacific at 11:30 a.m.
"The Hawai'i schools are always tough," Kiely said. "We'll face our second on Saturday and need to be ready to go for a tough HPU team."
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
