On a very blustery day at Russ Carr Field, #18 Westmont women’s soccer saw its season come to an end in the first round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament. Third-seeded Westmont played #22 Concordia to a 1-1 tie through 90 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods, sending the contest to penalty kicks. But the Eagles (7-4-5, 3-3-4 GSAC) earned the opportunity to advance to Friday’s semifinal at California Baptist by winning 4-3 on penalty kicks.
“If there is a tougher way to lose a game and end a season, I don’t know that I have experienced it,” said head coach Dave Wolf. While, technically, the result will count as a tie on the Warriors’ record, the sentiment is understandable.
Westmont senior Amy Lawson scored for the Warriors in thirty-first minute. After Taylor Callan launched a corner kick from the right-hand corner, Shanae Coker leapt across the face of the goal, controlled the pass and fed the ball to Lawson. Lawson finished from six yards out, skipping the ball across the grass and into the goal at the near post.
“I thought our three seniors played great in their last game,” said Wolf, referring to Lawson, Callan and Rachael Carr. “They can walk off the field with their heads held high. All three of them played every minute of the game. On the other end of the spectrum, (freshmen) Melanie (Greene) and Shanae give women’s soccer optimism for the future. They are young players who played in a lot of big games and gained valuable experience.”
Concordia’s goal came in the fifty-sixth minute on a set play. Caitlin Schneider served a free kick into the box were Siobhan McMorrow headed it in for the equalizer.
“Today, I thought we played well,” said Wolf. “In the second half, we created some very good scoring chances. In many ways that is the story of the season. I thought they played much better than a team that ended up with a .500 record. Maybe there is some introspection for the coaching staff to try and understand why we couldn’t more successfully turn quality play into results. I think some of that is (the nature of soccer) and some of that is worth taking a long, hard look at.”
Westmont concludes the season with a 7-7-3 overall record and a GSAC record of 6-3-1.
