Box Score

By Kaci Mexico
November 29, 2016
 
In one of today's NAIA Women's Soccer Second Round National Tournament games, tenth ranked Westmont Women's soccer fell to sixth ranked Northwestern Ohio (20-2-1) by a score of 3-1. The Warriors finish the 2016 season with a record of 16-4-2.

"We knew that it was going to be a battle and challenge of a match," explained head coach Chantel Cappuccilli. "They are dynamic and technical and they have a solid front six group."

At the start the game, the Racers applied tremendous offensive pressure with a shot and two corner kicks within the first five minutes; and then a goal in the eighth minute - Evodkia Popadinova headed in a cross from Robyn Moodaly. The Racers rode with this momentum right into their second goal, which they scored seven minutes later – Camilla Anderson finished off of a cross by Laura Blanchard.

 "It was unfortunate to have given up a couple goals early on in the first half," reflected Cappuccilli. "Within the first twenty minutes they did a good job to capitalize on the opportunities that they created - their margin was small, but they finished two out of their six first half shots."

The Warriors found themselves down 2-0 in the first fifteen minutes of play, but continued to battle for chances to bridge the gap. For the remainder of the first half, Westmont's Maddi Berthoud had two significant shots on goal, and Destinee Adams had one. The Racer's goal keeper, Nadine Stonejek, thwarted all three chances to score.

In the second half, Northwestern Ohio scored a third goal in the 66^th minute when Anderson scored her second goal of the game off of a corner kick by Blanchard. For the remainder of the game, Westmont strove to capitalize (they had five shots and five corner kicks in the last 24 minutes of play) and in the 87^th minute they notched a goal when Sophie Fuller evaded a Racer defender and fired off a shot to score. "I give credit to my girls for fighting back to get a goal, so that was a bright spot within the result," reflected Cappuccilli.

Cappuccilli reflected on the team's season as a whole and said, "I think this team has played some of the best soccer we have played since I have been at Westmont and although you don't have a title to back that, I know we made strides in the right direction."

"We have drastically improved within so many areas of the game – one of which is in offensive output," continued Cappuccilli. "We scored 75 goals on the season - that is huge." (This team is third in Westmont Women's Soccer Season Records for goals scored in a season.)

Cappuccilli finished with a reflection on the contributions of the senior class.

"I have to give a lot of credit to my three seniors (Grace Lemley, Brooke Lillywhite, and Sophie Fuller). I am so proud of the way they have conducted themselves in a position of leadership. It really has been a joy for me to coach them and be with them over a course of four years and I couldn't be more proud of their careers with the Westmont women's soccer team and of the ways in which they have enhanced this program."