On a sweltering Thorrington Field, the Women Warriors added another milestone to their season with a 3-1 win over Marymount University.
The Warrior’s struck first and early when, in the 10th minute, Brooke Lilywhite drilled a free kick into the box that ricochet off of a Marymount player to find the back of the net.
“Well done for Brooke to step up and hit it,” said head coach Chantel Cappuccilli. “Her confidence and ability to even want to take the shot is great for us to have.”
With a goal under their belt, the Warriors continued to pressure the Mariners back line.
Namely, Kelsey Steck proved to be the greatest threat to the Mariner’s defense as she scored two consecutive goals in 5 minutes.
Her first goal came in the 24th minute and was the product of immense individual effort that began when Steck recovered a loose ball near the top of the 18. She only had eyes for the goal as she drove into the box at full speed, leaving several Mariner defenders in her wake, and fired a shot into the upper left side of the goal.
Steck struck again in the 29th minute with a header goal from 6 yards out, this time, off of a perfectly placed cross from the left sideline by Hailey Parker.
“It was important for Kelsey to get those two goals today, I think that is a big momentum shift for her,” said Cappuccilli. “Overall, I think in this game we did a better job of getting the defense shifted quickly and taking advantage of the space we had in front of us.”
Towards the end of the first half it seemed evident that the Warriors were the dominant team as they maintained most of the possession and outshot the Mariners 12 to 4.
However, the Mariner’s put a stint in the Warrior’s momentum in the 38th minute when Alyssa Lloja received a pass from Madison Maurer just beyond midfield, drove at speed past a Westmont defender, and shot to score the Mariners’ only goal of the game.
In the second half, the Warriors answered back not with a goal, but with a resilient defensive effort and an impressive showing from some reserves against an emboldened Mariner offense.
“It was nice to get a variety of players in today”, said Cappuccilli. “They came into the game and were able to mix it up and give us other options which were wonderful. They were able to execute and do their job.”
Cappuccilli looks forward to the gameless next two weeks of the season to continue onward in today’s momentum.
“We always want to play to our standard and we are continuing to get there; it is a process. We are having small milestones from game to game and I appreciate that. I think in these next couple weeks, we will continue in that momentum and continue to get better and work on being better at the little things.”
The Warrior’s will not have another game until September 12 when they will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thorrington field at 12:30 p.m.
