By Ron Smith
September 4, 2021
 
(TORRANCE, Calif.) A pair of freshmen teamed up on Saturday to record the only goal of the game as #18 Westmont Women's Soccer improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 1-0 win over Marymount California (0-3).
 
Olivia Gabelein from Shoreline Wash., recorded her first collegiate goal in the 35th minute. She was set up by Shayna Stock from nearby Redondo Beach, who notched her first collegiate assist.
 
"The goal was a fantastic goal," reported Westmont head coach Jenny Jaggard from the team bus as it made its way back to Santa Barbara. "Shayna, who was playing outside back for us, sent a beautiful ball into the box for Olivia Gabelein and she headed it in for a really pretty goal."
 
Stock, who was left alone on the right side, sent a line drive to Gabelein 10 yards in front of the goal. Gabelein was surrounded by two defenders, but headed the ball into the opposite crease for the score.
 
"I was happy with our team's execution of the game plan, especially in the first half," offered Jaggard. "Marymount is known for building out of the back off the short pass from the keeper. Our players executed perfectly and completely shut them down. We started to possess the ball and created a ton of opportunities in the first half.
 
"Overall, obviously I would have liked to have scored some more goals. It was stressful being at 1-0 when we dominated for the first 45 minutes. Of course, Marymount came out and made some adjustments and definitely gave us some defensive challenges the second half. We are still working on managing the last 20 minutes of the game when it is tight."
 
Junior goalkeeper Kailey Meyer of Lafayette, notched her second shutout in as many games while tallying three saves. All three saves came in the second half with the most spectacular occurring in the 85th minute.
 
The Mariner's Olivia Tostado found a loose ball 15 yards from in front of the goal and fired off a shot between two Westmont defenders. However, Meyer was able to smother the shot to prevent what would have been the equalizer. As it turned out, it was the last shot taken by Marymount.
 
The Warriors have a short turnaround before taking on Rocky Mountain of Montana (2-0) on Monday.
 
"The good thing  is that we are a fit team," declared Jaggard. "We are going to do some recovery tomorrow and hopefully have some fresh legs. We didn't go through our entire bench today, so we have some other legs that will be fresh that we can rotate in on Monday.
 
"Rocky Mountain played Marymount on Wednesday and won in overtime. Their offense looks organized to me. They generate good attacks. I think it's going to come down to who capitalizes first. We need to be effective at going forward and taking care of the job early."
 
The Warriors and Battlin' Bears will face off on Lovik Field at 12:30 p.m. as part of a men's and women's doubleheader. There will be free admission for Monday's game.