Muristek
Two goals in the first 11 minutes set the tone as #16 Westmont Women’s Soccer (9-0-3, 4-0-1 GSAC) defeated the Lions of Vanguard (7-5-2, 3-3) on Thursday afternoon in Costa Mesa. The win clinched a berth in the GSAC Tournament that begins the first Saturday of November and guarantees the Warriors at least the fourth seed.
“We did a really good job of moving the ball,” assessed Westmont head coach Jenny Jaggard. “We had good combination play and fantastic goals.
“One tactical key to this game was using the width in the middle third to break them down. Sadie Hill was a big piece of that. She did a really good job getting up and down for us today.”
The Warriors scored their first goal in just the eighth minute of play.
“Taylie Scott started that goal from the back line by sending a perfect ball to Karly Kingsley out wide,” noted Jaggard. “Karly served it in and it could not have been a nicer finish by Amelia Villa on that back post.”
The goal was Villa’s third goal of the season and Kingsley’s second assist.
Just three minutes later, Westmont made the score 2-0 off a set piece. From 30 yards out, Ande Siegel – who has three goals on long-distance free kicks this season – passed the ball along the ground to the top of the 18-yard box. Running onto the ball was Kingsley who used one touch to fire the ball past the keeper for her fourth goal of the year.
“This is something they have been mixing up in training,” said Jaggard. “Everyone is expecting Ande to rip it now. I thought it was such a smart little play to pull off on the front post.”
In the 67th minute, Katie DeMillo notched her second goal of the season, giving Westmont a 3-0 lead. Grace Duckens dribbled to the end line on the left side of the goal, then passed it back to DeMillo just inside the 18-yard box.
“It’s another thing we have been working on,” explained Jaggard. “Duckens did such a good job dribbling, beating people and then laying back a perfect, simple pass. Katie did a good job of timing her run. She had broken away from the defender and had the ability to one-touch finish it.
“All of these goals made me very excited,” conveyed Jaggard.
Vanguard scored its goal in the 63rd minute off of a corner kick by Payton Sak. Takara Kiesel was able to head in the shot off the corner kick which was taken from the left side to account for the final score.
In other GSAC action, Ottawa (Ariz.) (10-3-1, 3-1-1) recorded a 7-1 win over William Jessup (2-7-2, 0-4-1) and is currently tied with the Warriors atop the GSAC standings. Each team has 13 points. However, the Spirit have played one more game than the Warriors and have just two more opportunities to add to their point total. On Saturday, Ottawa will host Menlo (7-3-1, 4-1). Then on Friday, October 28, the Spirit will host their crosstown rival, Arizona Christian (2-7-2, 2-3-1).
Menlo defeated Arizona Christian this afternoon by a score of 1-0 and sits in third place in the standings with 12 points. By doing so, the Oaks stayed in the hunt with Ottawa and Westmont for the regular season title. In addition to Ottawa, Menlo will take on The Master’s on Thursday, October 27 and Westmont on Saturday, October 29.
This coming Saturday, Westmont travels to Temecula to take on the Hawks of San Diego Christian (4-5-5, 1-3-2) at Galway Downs on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Next week, the Warriors will host William Jessup on Thursday the 27th before taking on Menlo in what could be the battle for the GSAC Championship on the 29th.
“Every single game that we have from here on out is going to be very different,” predicted Jaggard. “Our match against San Diego Christian is going to look very different from today’s game. It is just about being adaptable and being able to problem solve.”
Ron Smith is the sports information director at Westmont College.
email: sports@newspress.com
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