The University of Redlands women's soccer team hosted the University of La Verne Leopards in its final, regular-season home-game on Wednesday night under the lights at Farquhar Field. After honoring its seven seniors for their valuable contributions in a short pregame ceremony, the Maroon and Gray prevailed over the Leopards by a score of 3-0 to secure the program's fifth Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championship with one game still to play.
The title comes just two days after celebrating Head Coach Suzette Soboti's 200th win in women's soccer. All five of the Bulldogs' conference titles have come under her direction.
The Bulldogs hit the ground running in the first half by firing off seven shots, as sophomore midfielder Erin Lau (Reno, NV) led the offensive charge with two attempts. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs were unable to convert a score in the opening 45 minutes of action.
However, the Bulldogs fine-tuned their offensive game plan in the second stanza and successfully buried three goals in a six-minute span to run away with the victory.
Redlands was awarded one of its nine corner kicks in the 71st minute. After surveying the box for an open player, senior midfielder Savannah Laursen (Boise, ID) decided to take matters into her own hands by curving the corner kick up and in, past the Leopard goalkeeper, for the 1-0 advantage.
Just a minute and a half later, senior midfielder Isabella Baez (Zionsville, IN) buried a score in the lower-right pocket directly after fellow senior defender Sam Keary (Mission Viejo, CA) slotted her with pinpoint accuracy in the middle of the box for a two-score lead.
In the 76th minute, Laursen's scoring outburst continued when she took a free kick in front of the box. After freshman midfielder Lauren Bay (Oak Park, CA) acted as a decoy prior to the free kick, Laursen rocketed home a frozen-rope goal past the diving goalkeeper for her second goal of the game.
The defensive brigade of sophomore Erin Schlosser (Sammamish, WA), junior Faith Campbell (Bainbridge Island, WA), junior Sammie Burghardt (Gig Harbor, WA), and Keary limited the Leopards to just five shot attempts while playing a key role in the Bulldogs' sixth shutout of the season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Menk (Pleasanton, CA) earned the victory while hauling in three saves in 90 minutes of work.
With the win, Redlands (11-3-2, 9-3-1 SCIAC) collects the program's fifth conference championship and automatically becomes the top seed in the upcoming SCIAC Postseason Tournament. But the Bulldogs first must finish out their regular-season schedule on Saturday, October 31, when they travel to Occidental College for a 7 p.m. contest.
