REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Soccer team put together their fourth shutout on the season and their third over their last four games beating Chapman University 2-0 Wednesday night inside Farquhar Field.
The Bulldogs bounce back following their 2-1 loss to UC Santa Cruz improving to .500 at 6-6, 6-2 SCIAC. Redlands has also picked up a crucial three points on the rest of the conference field jumping up into the top spot with Pomona-Pitzer, each with 18 points.
The Maroon and Grey got off to a fast start with five shots and a corner kick coming within the first six minutes. Tori Zielinski (Sunnyvale, CA) and Sabrina Semmere (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) each tested the Chapman keeper, while Skylar Pogue (Simi Valley, CA) had a shot blocked in the box and Charlie Baum (Hesperia, CA) would send a shot wide.
The next time the Bulldogs would generate offense would be in the 33rd minute coming off a free kick. Baum was fouled, which drew the set piece for UR. She would send a ball into the box, which was headed out by CU, but it would land in front of first-year Hannah Rice (Portland, OR) on top of the 18 who would connect sending a shot just over the head of Panther keeper Maia Mills, just under the crossbar.
Four minutes later Redlands continued to pressure and found insurance with Sami Salinas (Foothill Ranch, CA) unloading on a shot that hit the crossbar in the 38th minute. The rebound came out to Celine Akroush (Pasadena, CA) who would get a head on it before finishing upper-90.
This gave UR a 2-0 lead, which they would hold the rest of the way. Chapman would look for something across the final 45:00 minutes getting off eight shots, three of which found the frame, but all three would come away empty due to some acrobatic saves from Courtney Stewart (San Jose, CA).
The Bulldogs outshot Chapman 17-14 with each team getting seven shots on goal. Despite being at a disadvantage on corner kicks, 8-2, UR was able to put together an impressive lockdown defensive unit that limited the looks.
Zielinski and Salinas each took four shots for the game, Pogue added another two and another seven players picked up one. Stewart was stellar between the posts playing all 90:00 minutes finishing with six saves.
Redlands looks to carry this momentum into Saturday when they travel to the University of La Verne to take on the Leopards beginning at 11:00am.