Sophomore forward Fionna Connolly (Salem, OR) set the momentum in the Bulldogs’ favor early as the University of Redlands women’s soccer team cruised to a 2-0 victory over Occidental College on Wednesday afternoon in Redlands.

Connolly notched her first goal of the season when she converted on a header 6:45 into the contest.  Junior midfielder Jessi Hoyt (Boise, ID) passed the ball to freshman defender Meghan King (Portland, OR) on the left wing, and King placed a cross in the box that Connolly headed in for the game’s first score.

With just less than a minute to play in the half, junior defender Chelsea Hafley (Redlands, CA) ripped a 40-yard bomb from well outside of the box and found the back of the net, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 halftime advantage.

The score would remain unchanged in the second stanza, which ensured Redlands its fourth consecutive shutout victory.

The Maroon and Gray outshot the Tigers, 16-11, and outchanced Occidental on corner kicks as well, 9-2.

Senior goalkeeper Tenley Rawlings (Salt Lake City, UT) boasted a clean stat sheet protecting the Bulldog net, making two saves while holding her opponents scoreless. Robin Feldman turned away seven shots for the Tigers yet sustained the loss.

Despite the defeat, Occidental (6-5, 4-4 SCIAC) sits well out in front of fifth-place Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings and looks to shake up the order of the top four when it travels to Thousand Oaks on Saturday to face Cal Lutheran University.

Redlands (8-4, 7-1 SCIAC) has the opportunity to bolster its résumé on Saturday when it hosts No. 13 Wheaton College (IL) on Farquhar Field. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.; however, the match could potentially start later than advertised due to men’s soccer’s 11 a.m. tilt versus Caltech.

Wheaton won, 2-0, in the first-ever contest between the two teams in 2005.