Women’s Soccer Puts up a Battle in Tough Game Against Portland
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On Sunday, September 28th, Pacific Women’s Soccer faced a 0-1 loss against the University of Portland in a defensive fight.
Women’s Soccer (3-4-3) showed grit in a 0-1 loss to the University of Portland (4-2-4) on Sunday, September 28th at Knoles Field. The game marked the Tigers’ West Coast Conference home opener.
At the start of the first half, the Tigers put forward some offensive moves. About five minutes in, sophomore and forward Sierah McCallum cut in from the left and fired a shot on the goal that was saved by the Pilots’ keeper.
At the 10-minute mark, following a quick conversion after a foul, Portland sent a through ball leading to a narrowly missed shot. Just five minutes later, the Pilots sent the ball in a cross and headed it just shy of the post.
As the half progressed, the Tigers blocked several chances at goals against them, maintaining a strong team defending. At the 41st minute, freshman and goalkeeper Lis Van Herwijnen secured a stellar save against a one-versus-one shot on the goal.
Going into halftime, the Pilots had greater possession and more chances on the goal than the Tigers.
Just three minutes into the second half, Pilots junior and defender and midfielder Hailey Bagby with a chest trap turned and found the bottom right corner to give Portland a 1-0 lead.
“We talked about staying switched on for all the plays, and I feel like that play kind of just started from a throw-in right after the half,” junior and forward Kaya Rosa said. “So I think that's something that we're definitely gonna learn from, just making sure that we're fully switched on, locked in for those 90 minutes, especially after a break like half.”
With the Tigers back on the offensive at the 54th minute, Rosa made a foot shot that was saved by the Pilots’ goalkeeper. At the 60th minute, Herwijnen made a goal-line save to keep the Tigers in the game.
At the 75th minute mark, the Tigers had another shot on the goal, but were challenged with a finger-tip save by the Pilots’ goalkeeper. Despite fighting hard throughout the second half, the Tigers were unable to find the back of the net.
“This season has definitely been an improvement from last season, and the coaching staff that's come on has been insane and huge for us, as well as the new players who've come in,” Rosa said. “I feel like our coaches have really emphasized team culture, and have really done hard work to prepare us for these tough games — and Portland's a great opponent, and in my past few years, we haven't actually done that well against them. So although we lost, losing one-zero was not a bad result for us at all.”
In their next game, the team faced the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday, October 4th in Malibu. Their next home game will be on Saturday, October 11th against the Santa Clara Broncos for Homecoming weekend.