By Ron Smith
October 19, 2019­­­­­
 
(SANTA CLARITA, Calif.) Playing at The Master's (8-3-3, 3-1 GSAC) on Saturday morning, #6 Westmont Women's Soccer (10-2-1, 4-1) fell 3-2 in overtime, suffering its first conference loss of the year.
 
"Master's exposed some of the things we know we have gotten away with in our back line with other teams and managed to put away some goals today," said Westmont head coach Jenny Jaggard. "It was eye opening to something we have been talking about for a while but maybe we didn't fully believe until it actually happened to us. We need to be a little bit more organized in the back."
 
Westmont lit up the scoreboard first, when Savannah Scott converted a penalty kick in the 15th minute.
 
"Bri was in the box dribbling when she was fouled," said Jaggard. "I really thought that she was going to score if they had not fouled her."
 
The game remained tied until the 49th minute when the Mustangs' Suzanne Mabie headed in a corner kick from Sarah Stead.
 
Two minutes later, Scott had a chance on another PK.
 
"Savannah took the shot again, but the goalkeeper read it and made a save," said Jaggard. "It pumped the other team up and kind of deflated us."
 
In the 86th minute, the Warriors went up 2-1 when Katie Stella scored her third goal of the season after Madison Griggs played a ball forward from the back.
 
"Katie touched the ball in behind," said Jaggard. "She is a good finisher. She was very calm and just placed it."
 
With under five minutes to play, it appeared Westmont might be headed for victory. However, two minutes later, Mabie scored the equalizer. Kayla Peterson sent in a long ball that was headed by Elizabeth Radmilovic to Mabie who found the net.
 
The final game came in the 93rd minute after Radmilovic passed a ball to Kydnel Borman. Borman received the ball, turned, scored and ended the game.
 
"The game was incredibly physical and that is something we need to work on and create an environment in training that helps us to be prepared for that," acknowledged Jaggard. "It definitely is not our natural way of playing."
 
With the loss, and a 3-1 win by OUAZ (Ariz.) (12-3, 5-0) over William Jessup (3-11, 1-4), Westmont now finds itself in second place in the GSAC standings, three points (three for each win, one for each tie) behind OUAZ. #13 Vanguard (7-2-2, 3-1) and The Master's are tied for third place three more points back but with one less conference game played.
 
OUAZ can claim the conference title by winning its final three games. However, it must face all three of the one-loss teams – Vanguard at home, then Westmont and The Master's on the road
 
Westmont will return to action next Saturday when it travels to San Diego Christian (5-10, 2-4). One week later, after hosting OUAZ on Thursday, October 31, Westmont will welcome Arizona Christian (6-9, 0-5) to Thorrington Field for the final regular season game of the year.