After battling to a scoreless tie on Saturday against Biola, third ranked Westmont (9-0-3, 3-0-2) settled into a familiar refrain against the No. 12 Eagles of Concordia (9-0-3, 4-0-1). The Warriors reprised Saturday’s goalless result in Tuesday’s Golden State Athletic Conference game at Thorrington Field.
Concordia hit the pitch with an upbeat pace, controlling the majority of possession for the first 15-20 minutes of the game. The rest of the opening frame settled into a more harmonious balance of possession. After the intermission, it was Westmont who provided the up-tempo rhythm in the early minutes, punctuated with a staccato of opportunities that, unfortunately for the Warriors, went without resolution.
“It is certainly disappointing to have two 0-0 games,” said Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely. “The last few games we have not looked as threating and dangerous up top. We need to get that sorted out. We looked like we had played a double overtime game three days ago. We tried to sub as much as we could, but I thought we looked tired today. I give the team a lot of credit for the change they made at halftime.”
Though Concordia tallied 17 shots to Westmont’s 10, each team had five shots on goal.
“It isn’t for lack of creating opportunities – we had a lot of chances,” said Kiely. “It is for lack of putting them away. Mallory Mitchell has come into her own the last couple of games. She went at their backs and had a lot of success. She got us into good goal scoring positions, but we have to finish.”
While the Warriors have now played 220 minutes of soccer without scoring, they have not given up a goal in 353 minutes – a fact that strikes a chord with Kiely.
“We tell the players that if we don’t get scored on we can’t lose,” said Kiely. “They have definitely done that really well. Lindsey kept us in the game with a couple of key saves. Amanda Diesen was fantastic today. She was talking to her teammates and staying tight to her opponent, allowing them no time or space on the ball.”
Smith performed like a maestro in goal today, conducting sure goals away from the net with toss of her gloved hand. In the 35th minute, Westmont committed a foul and Concordia was awarded a free kick from 24 yards out. The ball kicked by Concordia’s Amanda Koman cleared the Westmont defenders – lined up like notes on a staff – and was headed for the back of the net. Smith, however, waved off the discordant missile, punching it over the net.
Two minutes later, on a corner kick by Amanda Canales in the 37th minute, Smith’s allegrissimo reflexes awed the audience as she deflected a header by Alexis Garcia-Irons that appeared destined to produce a dramatic change in the tenor of the score.
