REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Soccer team opened up Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play Wednesday night, but couldn't come away with the win as they fell 4-3 to Claremont-M-S.
The Maroon and Grey found themselves in a tough spot early trailing 3-0 midway through the first half. But they continued to battle cutting the deficit to two at intermission. Then in the second half the offense continued with the Bulldogs outscoring the Athenas 2-1 over the final 45:00 minutes to get within one. But that's as close as UR would get as CMS would hold off one final push to claim the 4-3 road victory.
Redlands drops to 1-3, 0-1 SCIAC, while Claremont-M-S improves to 4-0, 1-0 SCIAC.
CMS got things started quickly with three goals in the opening fifteen minutes that put UR in an early hole. The first goal came from Taylor Arakaki who received a ball at the corner of the box. She then managed to float a ball over Bulldog goalkeeper Courtney Stewart (San Jose, CA) as she came off her mark. A few minutes later UR fell unlucky again as a shot off a corner kick would hit the crossbar and bounce straight down to a waiting Kaitlyn Helfrich who finished. The final goal in that stretch would go to Ava Schmitt who capitalized off of a corner kick getting fed by Helfrich.
The very next possession the Maroon and Grey looked like they would get on the scoreboard as Peyton Fendrich (Clackamas, OR) would get an open look on frame back post. While Athena keeper Athena Manthouli was on the ground Fendrich would connect inside the box, but her ensuing shot would get blocked as a CMS defender would slide in to keep the ball from breaking the crease.
But the Bulldogs' Fendrich continued to pressure and would finally break through in the 26th minute. Malia Kuhl (Sammamish, WA) was able to get off a shot that was saved by Manthouli, the rebound though would go straight to Fendrich who would finish.
Out of the half, CMS got to work quickly and added the eventual game-winner in the 56th minute from Helfrich who would use her speed to power past the back-line before earning a one on one with keeper Kaiah Mooradian (Fort Collins, CO).
That moved the score to 4-1, but again UR would bounce back this time from Tori Zielinski (Sunnyvale, CA). She took an initial shot at the 65:24 mark, which was saved. Three minutes later she got another look this time on top of the box and this time she would finish going bottom left corner past a diving Manthouli that cut the deficit to two. But the Bulldogs weren't done as they would tack on another with three minutes to play from Fendrich who would get on the scoreboard for the second time. She received a feed from Sami Salinas (Foothill Ranch, CA) out on the wing. She then turned and connected from 20 yards out hitting the post before seeing it drop that made it a one goal game.
After that they tried to keep the pressure up but couldn't get a shot off in the final two minutes as CMS would hold on for the one goal-victory.
Redlands controlled the offense outshooting the Athenas 20-13, which included an 11-7 effort in the second half. They also held the advantage on corner kicks 5-4. They pressured the CMS keeper forcing her into seven save opportunities on the evening, while Stewart, Mooradian, and Kennedy Kerr (Bellevue, WA) would combine for four saves, three of which came from Stewart.
Eva Vlassopoulos (Portland, OR) finished the game taking nine shots, four of which were on goal. Fendrich took four shots, three on frame to go with her two goals and Zielinski would add two shots both being on goal and another tally.
Redlands travels this Saturday, September 18 to take on Cal Lutheran University beginning at 7:00pm.