By: Hope Hensley
August 31, 2026
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Westmont Women's Soccer (0-1-2) earned a hard-fought 1–1 draw against visiting Cal State San Bernardino (0-0-1) on Monday afternoon at Thorrington Field.
The Warriors set the tone immediately out of the gate, striking in the fourth minute when midfielder Ellie Gilbert delivered a ball into the box for forward Madeline Steinbach, who finished cleanly to put Westmont ahead 1–0.
"I loved how we came out of the gate—that was actually part of our pregame talk going into it, just asking if we could come out swinging, and we did that," said Westmont head coach Lauren Matthias. "It was a really fun goal, good build-up, and a great quality, simple finish by Maddie Stein on a great run into a space we were looking to play the ball into."
Following the opening strike, the Coyotes applied intense attacking pressure, out shooting Westmont across the match and forcing the Warriors to solve a tactical puzzle in the midfield.
"After taking the early lead, we knew San Bernardino was going to press pretty darn high," Matthias explained. "They had a plus-one up in the middle with the formation they were playing, so there was a little bit of a tactical game we needed to solve out. I thought we did that at the half and were able to fix those numbers to help us regain possession in the second half."
Senior goalkeeper Ellie Ludwig anchored the defensive unit, recording eight saves to protect the lead late into the contest.
"Ludwig was really a great anchor back there again and commanded her penalty area super well," Matthias said. "She came out, gathered balls, disrupted corners, and made the saves she needed to, along with a couple of big-time ones handling some really hard, well-hit balls. She played like a senior in net, and I'm really excited with her maturity."
CSU San Bernardino found its equalizer in the 73rd minute when Jackie Fuentes converted a penalty kick following a defensive foul in the box. Outside of the spot kick, Westmont's back line held firm to deny the Coyotes in open play.
"Outside the penalty kick, we kept them off the board in open play, which was something we were proud of," Matthias noted. "Our back line and keepers are playing really resiliently right now. Going into the next few training sessions, one thing we need to work on is not giving up that many shots and corner kicks, but again, we didn't give up anything in the run of play."
With Monday marking Westmont's third match in a week, Matthias utilized heavy bench rotations across both halves to manage player workload.
"Subbing a lot to manage legs was strategic—that was our third game in a week with Thursday and Saturday coming up, along with classes starting," Matthias added. "We feel pretty happy that we can rotate through quite a bit of players. It's nice to feel confident bringing different levels of energy and seeing different combinations bring out different strengths."
Despite the late penalty kick, Matthias views the result as valuable progress for the squad early in the season.
"I told the group that it was a step in the right direction, and that's all we're looking for day-to-day," Matthias said. "A big theme of ours in the spring was that 'battle-back' mentality to be able to come out with a result, and today was another demonstration of us coming out with a point against a good, hard CCAA opponent."
Westmont continues its home stand later this week at Thorrington Field hosting North Dakota State at 2:15 p.m.
