By Rob Goodrow
October 31, 2019­­­­­
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The #8 Westmont Women's Soccer team (12-2-1, 6-1) continued its offensive hot streak on Thursday at Thorrington Field, knocking in six goals and shutting out visiting OUAZ. The win keeps the Warriors tied for first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference with one game remaining in the regular season.
 
Westmont wasted little time getting after the visiting Spirit (12-5, 5-2), erupting for two goals by sophomore Katie Stella in the first 5:13 of the game. On the day, the Warriors scored six goals on eleven shots.
 
Despite scoring four goals at San Diego Christian in their previous game, Westmont Head Coach Jenny Jaggard felt the output against OUAZ was a while in the making.
 
"Our attack was good today," said Jaggard. "The past few games we've had a level of frustration with not being able to put away early opportunities.
 
"Katie Stella is a great finisher," continued Jaggard. "I'm proud of her for getting over some hurdles she had earlier in the year and now she's on to the easy stuff of playing in games. The kid is a clinical finisher."
 
Ten minutes later, Maddi Berthoud continued the net action with some help from Stella, who tallied her fifth point of the day with an assist.
 
"Katie crossed it and Maddi was running near-post," described Jaggard. "She let the ball run across one foot and then she heel-flicked it with her other foot away from the goalkeeper. It's a move Maddi is so good at and it's difficult on the keeper to read it, to see and react."
 
The fourth score for the Warriors came in the 37th minute when Isabelle Berthoud recorded her ninth goal of the season. The junior is the second leading goal scorer on the team but just twelfth in minutes played.
 
"It is like having a goal-scoring specialist when she comes in off the bench," said Jaggard. "She finds the right moment, finds a way to get open. She's really calm about putting it on frame and in a place where it's hard for the keeper to reach it."
 
The Warriors led at the break 4-0, outshooting OUAZ 16-3. The second half defense of Westmont put the clamps on the visiting Spirit, limiting them to just five shots, none on goal.
 
"Our main emphasis was pressing, to get forward, never allowing them to find a rhythm," said Jaggard. "They have some scorers up front and we had to take away their space. Our defense did a really great job today, too."
 
Heading into the game Thursday, OUAZ boasted the leading goal scorer in the conference, Saipress Jones, but she was limited to just a single shot. Jones gained some company atop the conference leader list when junior Bri Johnson of the Warriors scored her 11th goal of the season in the 72nd minute.
 
It was a patented Johnson score, shaking the defense and dribbling into a space to strike.
 
"Bri is so powerful, she's so strong at holding people off and so technically good," explained Jaggard. "The ball is almost glued to her feet as she's dribbling at a full sprint with a defender grabbing her and yet she's in complete control."
 
Freshman Chase Sprink had the sixth and final goal of the day for Westmont when she fielded a pass from the center out to the flank and put a ground shot into the far bottom corner from about 18 yards out.
 
"It's not happenstance that Chase made that play," noted Jaggard. "That is the result of a lot of individual work on her part, extra time she's invested.
 
"I was happy that we recognized when to use the flank and when to attack in the center. It makes it so much more difficult to defend when we can use both options," said Jaggard. "I thought we were successful doing that today."
 
The Warriors now head into the final regular season game, Saturday, November 2, against Arizona Christian, tied for first place with Vanguard at 6-1. Kick-off is 2:30 p.m. at Thorrington Field.
 
A Westmont win will give them the GSAC regular season championship and the top seed in the conference tournament.