On a cold, wet and windy afternoon in Fullerton, #3 Westmont Women's Soccer heated up the field with a 4-0 blanking of Golden State Athletic Conference opponent Hope International (2-6-3, 0-2-1 GSAC). The Warriors improved to 9-0-1 overall – a record they have not held since 1998 – and 3-0 in GSAC play.

"Hope International is a very difficult place to play," said Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely. "We told the team beforehand, 'You are not going to have control over a lot today. The surface isn't great and the weather could get worse. You have to go out there and take it from the beginning.' And they did.

"After talking with (Westmont men's soccer head coach) Dave Wolf, who played here yesterday, we had a game plan of trying to get the ball wide and then get it in (toward the front of the goal) to avoid dealing with the very difficult surface to play on. That is how the first two goals were scored."

It didn't take the Warriors long. In just the third minute, Mallory Mitchell received a cross from Christine Adams on the left side and headed it into the goal past the keeper.

"Mallory picked up right where she left off last game," said Kiely, "getting an early goal and then getting a beautiful assist on the second goal by Kelsey Steck. I was very pleased with Mallory's performance.

"Alison Hensley and Kaci Mexico had a nice combination and sent it to Mallory wide," recounted Kiely of the second goal in the 44th minute. "Mallory sent it in and Kelsey ran on to it and had a beautiful header to send it home."

In the second half, Kaitlin Swift provided the third goal in the 66th minute.

"There was a jumble in the box," said Kiely. "The keeper got something on it but the ball bounced free. Then the keeper dove on it but the ball bounced out and Kaitlin was right there and knocked it home."

After the third goal, Kiely began to substitute freely.

"I really wanted to commend the players on the entire team effort," said the fourth year coach. "We got everyone into the game that was healthy today and our level (of play) never dropped off. We continued to score, continued to play good soccer and continued to have high energy. I am proud of the team for their group effort today."

As if to illustrate Kiely's point, Grace Lemley scored with less than two minutes to play, capping off the Warriors' victory.

"We pushed Grace up a little bit higher today and she was able to get a goal on a clinical, calm, composed finished," said Kiely. "Kaleigh Landberg played the ball to Grace who received it at the top of the 18 on the left side. Grace hit it to the far post and into the side netting."

In other Golden State Athletic Conference play, #6 Vanguard (9-1, 2-1) posted a 2-1 win at San Diego Christian (6-3-1, 0-2-1) while #16 Concordia (8-0-2, 3-0) upended #11 The Master's (10-1, 2-1) by a score of 4-1. Yesterday, #22 Biola (7-4, 1-2) defeated Arizona Christian (2-9, 0-3) by a 6-0 score.

As a result, Westmont and Concordia sit atop the conference standings with nine points each, three points ahead of The Master's and Vanguard. Each team is awarded three points for a win and one for a tie. Biola is in fifth place with three points while San Diego Christian and Hope International each have one point.

On Saturday, the Warriors will continue GSAC play when they travel to La Mirada to take on Biola at seven o'clock.