Impressive Defensive Effort Earns Redlands Women's Soccer Crucial SCIAC Victory Over Chapman, 1-0

Megan Marks scored first-career goal in the 1-0 victory.
Megan Marks scored first-career goal in the 1-0 victory.

A fantastic defensive performance led the University of Redlands women's soccer team to a pivotal road-win over conference foe, Chapman University, 1-0.  Saturday's victory keeps the Bulldogs in third place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings with just four conference matches remaining in the regular season.

Neither team found the back of the net during the first 45 minutes, but the Panthers managed to out-shoot the Bulldogs, 19-5.  The Maroon and Gray created some opportunities of its own, however, holding the advantage in corner kicks, 2-1.

Redlands finally found what it was looking for in the 75th minute when freshman midfielder Savannah Laursen (Boise, ID) beat a Panther defender near the end-line and slotted the ball back to junior defender Megan Marks (Boise, ID), who was wide open at the back post.  Marks made no mistake and finished the golden opportunity, scoring her first-ever goal in a Bulldog uniform.

The Panthers pushed to find the equalizer during the final 15 minutes of regulation but couldn't break down the Redlands defense, resulting in the Bulldog triumph.

The starting back-line of senior Ellie Harrington (Seattle, WA), senior Maddy Cartwright (Salt Lake City, UT), junior Kinslee Isaman (Lake Stevens, WA) and sophomore Amy Pumputis (Redmond, WA) put together one of its best performances of the season in the shutout.  Stifling the Panther attack all game long, the Bulldogs only allowed five shots on goal during the match.

Both senior goalkeeper Linzey Smith (Anaheim Hills, CA) and junior goalkeeper Sabrina Grandke-Bawab (Kirkland, WA) did a stellar job in goal, directing traffic and making the necessary saves to preserve Redlands' second-consecutive shutout.

The Maroon and Gray (8-3-2, 6-3-1) returns home on Wednesday evening to take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on "Breast Cancer Awareness Night."  The Bulldogs will don their pink uniforms in support of the cause.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Farquhar Field.