Two goals from Ashley Correa and one each from Aolani Rueff and freshman Kaitlynn Durham gave #8 Westmont Women’s Soccer (3-1-1) a 4-1 win over Southern Oregon (4-2-1) in a game played at Menlo College in Atherton.
“Southern Oregon is certainly the most organized teams that we have played against,” said Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely. “The game was closer than the results showed. I really respect the way Southern Oregon tries to play and thought they did a good job. We were just able to put it in the back of the net today.”
Aolani Rueff scored in the twenty-second minute to put the Warriors up 1-0.
“Lani scored as a result of her work rate,” said Kiely, “About 95% of her goals come from her ability to outwork an opponent and wear them down.”
Fourteen minutes later, Correa scored her first goal of the day, putting the Warriors up by a 2-0 score.
“The second goal came from a corner that Lani and Ashley were able to combine on,” reported Kiely. “Ashley finished far post with a great shot.”
“At halftime, the stat sheet said they hadn’t had a shot on goal, but it didn’t feel that way,” noted Kiely. “It felt like they were finding some pockets and we weren’t organizing fast enough. I told the girls at halftime that even though we were frustrated because organizationally we are not great right now, we still had denied them the ability to score and we are doing it on the road.”
Southern Oregon pulled to within one on a goal in the seventy-second minute, then nearly tied the game on an apparent goal that was disallowed by the officials for interfering with the keeper.
In the eighty-second minute, Durham, playing at center back, recorded her first collegiate goal to put the Warriors ahead 3-1.
“Kaitlynn had the game sense and maturity to recognize that there was a space that nobody was running into,” said Kiely. “Ashley found her, Kaitlynn beat one defender then slotted it to the far post past the keeper. It was mature, it was calm and I am very proud of her performance today and her ability to see a result on that play.”
With just over a minute remaining, Correa recorded her third goal of the season by directly delivering a corner kick into the net.
“It was a really great result on the road against a very hard team,” noted Kiely. “The goals came from a lot of hard work and I am proud of the team for sticking with it all the way to the end. It was probably our most challenging game so far.”
Westmont will play again tomorrow at Menlo, taking on William Jessup at eleven in the morning.
