Under 100 degree-plus temperatures in Azusa, #12 Westmont Women's Soccer (8-3, 3-1 GSAC) suffered its first Golden State Athletic Conference loss of the year, losing 3-0 to the third-ranked Cougars of Azusa Pacific (7-1-1, 3-1).
"They were on today and we were off," summed up Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely. "They deserved to win and we need to learn from it. I think it was ugly from us today. The majority of the game was played in the middle of the field. There weren't great chances on either side aside from the three goals. It was a game that was won and lost in the middle third of the field."
In addition to battling the heat from the nuclear furnace around which earth rotates, the Warriors found themselves contending with another Sun – Natalie by name. Natalie Sun scored what proved to be the winning goal in the twenty-ninth minute. After receiving a pass from Emily Wood, Sun broke for the goal, placing the ball in the right side of the net.
Just lest than seven minutes later, Sun sent a pass into Molly Lavin who headed the ball in from 10 yards out to make it a 2-0 game. The third goal came in the forty-ninth minute when Westmont failed to clear a shot by Lynsey Browne and Shannon Hardy was there to put it away.
"Dan (Ribbens) said it well," said Kiely of the Warriors' long-time assistant coach. "Azusa Pacific had a lot motivating them. We were a team that was talked about as one of the ones that could beat them out of the games they had left. If they had lost a second conference game, then they probably wouldn't have a shot at the conference championship. That was a big motivating factor for them."
Azusa Pacific, who previously lost to Point Loma Nazarene (12-0-1, 4-0), is now tied with the Warriors for second place in the GSAC standings with a total of nine points (three for a win, one for a loss). Point Loma, which defeated Vanguard (9-2-1, 1-2-1) today 2-1 in overtime, sits atop the GSAC standings with 12 points.
Westmont will return to action on Saturday when they host San Diego Christian (4-7, 0-4) at noon on Saturday.
