Aolani Rueff scores the winning goal in Westmont's 2-1 double-overtime victory, getting the shot off between three defenders.
Aolani Rueff is used to being one of the smaller girls on the soccer field, but it sure doesn’t keep her from finding the back of the net.
In only her second collegiate game, the forward out of Santa Ynez High scored twice, including the game-winner with a minute left in the second overtime to lift Westmont to a 2-1 victory over the University of Hawaii-Hilo at Lovik Field on Tuesday afternoon.
“In high school I used to get pushed around a lot and I knew I just had to step up my game,” said the 5-foot-2 Santa Maria native.
“Here the girls are bigger and they’ll just run you over, but in practice my teammates play hard on me and it really helps me get used to it for the games.”
The Vulcans, coached by local soccer legend Cam Camarena, struck first in the 12th minute, but the Warriors had the edge for most of the game, winning the possession battle and producing 17 shots to the visitors’ nine. Westmont also took eight corner kicks while the Vulcans had none.
“I think we have a good rotation up front, but we just need to start finishing more. We’ll get there,” said associate head coach Kristi Kiely, who said that Reuff’s size is proving to be a non-factor.
“We thought her size would be one of the only issues for her moving up to this level, but I don’t think that it has been. She’s just so good with the ball and at separating herself from defenders,” said Kiely.
Rueff scored first in the 29th minute, taking a throw-in on the left side and blasting it in from about 23 yards out. The next 80 minutes included some nice opportunities that came up just short.
With three minutes left in the first half, Westmont’s Britney Scannell made an impressive run right through the middle of the field and was fouled just outside of the box. A nice free kick by Candace Marques was stopped by Vulcan goalie Shanna Brown.
Samantha Kleen sent a beautiful ball into a streaking Jenna Nelson in the 52nd minute, and Nelson had just one defender to beat but was stopped before she was able to get a clear shot. Haley Yurtin had a clear shot from close-range a few minutes later but Brown once again made the save.
Rueff’s game-winner in the 109th minute surprised everyone as it went in. The freshman charged in and booted one that bounced off of a Vulcan defender’s shin and shot high into the air across the goal, coming down behind Brown’s head into the back-right corner.
“I didn’t think it had a chance at all. Me and Shanae (Coker) just kept running a give-and-go and I just said ‘okay, I’ve got to nail this because there’s not a lot of time,’” she said. “I couldn’t believe it, but it was great… I was so tired.”
Camarena, who also coaches Hawaii-Hilo’s men’s team, still lives in Santa Barbara during the offseason. He played for UCSB in the 1970s and then started Santa Barbara’s AYSO program in 1976. He founded the city’s first club, The Gladiators, in 1977, and had a hand in seemingly every other local soccer program after that, including as a coach for SBCC.
Now, he’s retired except for his coaching gig in paradise.
“I told them I would take the job, but only if they were dedicated to taking the program as far as we could right away,” he said.
Westmont (1-1) hosts Southern Nazarene (Okla.) at La Playa Stadium on Saturday at 4 p.m. Hawaii-Hilo is now 0-3 on the young season.
