Senior Jameisha Washington scored with less than six minutes left in regulation to give Westmont Women's Soccer a 2-1 win at Westminster (Utah) on Saturday. With the win, the Warriors improved to 1-0-1 while their hosts dropped to 1-2-1.

"JJ's goal was incredible" said Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely. "She took a shot from about 30 yards out which rebounded off the keeper. The keeper came out to clear it but missed. JJ capitalized by taking a one-touch shot to the far post. She beat the keeper against the wind. It was beautiful. To have the composure to see it and to do it all against the wind took a lot of maturity and focus."

The Warriors fell behind early when Westminster's Heather Hillam scored in the eleventh minute after a corner kick.

"Their goal was frustrating because we had spent a decent amount of time (in training) on defending corner kicks and making sure everyone is marked up," said Kiely. "The ball got loose, the attacker was open and she hit a nice shot to the back post that would have been very hard to save."

Westmont struggled with several adjustments as the game began.

"It was a little bit like watching two different teams," said Kiely of her team. "Our first half was average. Westminster came at us with a lot of numbers up top and we had a hard time adjusting. We tried to get the counterattack on them but were unable to do that. It took the entire half for us to make adjustments and figure it out.

"A factor in the first half were getting use to the pitch," explained the coach. "It was a turf field; it was eight yards wider than our field and as long as our field and the ball moved very quickly. We were making some nice runs and sending some nice through-balls, but we were sending them too hard for that pitch.

"We made some adjustments in the second half, both in personnel and tactically. We came out like an entirely different team – a very good team. I would say it was one of the best halves we have played. Westminster got into our half a total of about five times. We kept flying at them and using the width."

The Warriors pulled even in the fifty-seventh minute when Ashley Correa scored on an unassisted goal from about 25 yards out. Correa, who had entered the game less than a minute earlier, drove at her opponent and fired off the shot that tied up the game.

"Several players had very strong games for us," offered Kiely. "Skyla (Lauda) held it down in the back with freshman Missy Robertson at center back. Amanda Diesen, coming on as an outside back, had a very good game. She is a fantastic player who has adapted to the college game quickly. Haley Yurtin and Sam Kleen, both had very good games in the second half in the midfield, and Mel (Green) had a descent game in the middle. Our front runners also did very well – Ashley, Aolani (Rueff) and Brit (Scannell). Their movement off the ball and their ability to drive at people got us into good goal scoring positions."

"I would have loved to get a better start in the first half, but I was so proud of our team in the second half," said Kiely. "It was a character second half.

"Possession in the second half was ours at least three-quarters of the time," continued the coach. "We were very pleased with the team's ability to adjust and clean it up. We made a lot of changes tactically, but if you are not getting it done technically, it doesn't matter. We can't necessarily fix that as coaches. But the players were able to make that change. They were able to get the ball on the ground, knock it around, have a good first touch and drive at people. You have to do well at all of those things individually in order for a game plan to work. Kudos to the team for implementing that when they were down 1-0."

Next weekend, the Warriors will participate in the Redlands tournament. On Friday, Westmont will play the hosts at five o'clock. Then on Saturday, the opponent will be Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at one in the afternoon.