Jaleesa Garcia

Senior defender Avery West wins a tackle.

California Lutheran University’s Regals soccer team continued its undefeated season in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 1-0 win against the Whittier Poets on Wednesday, Oct. 9. 

Immediately after the first whistle, both teams began applying pressure. Senior defender Avery West said the Regals had to come out aggressive from the beginning to match the Poets’ energy. 

“All of them are very sharp and they’re very quick. So going in, we needed to be strong on defense,” West said. “They came at us in the first half pretty hard, and we just had to match that and go in the same intensity in the second half.” 

Going into the second half, West said that the goal was to slow the game down because the team was overcomplicating the game for itself. 

“Our team needs to be able to slow down and kind of find a rhythm, we tend to get pretty frantic when a team is pressing us quickly,” West said. “So instead we just kind of need to learn that when we have a simple pass, just play it and play what’s on, and if it’s working, just continue to play it.”

This second-half approach proved successful when junior forward Macey Peery came off of the sidelines to score the Regals’ only goal of the game in the 60th minute.

Peery said she noticed how hard the Poets were attacking so she knew going into the game she had to go in prepared for any attack coming her way.

“When I was gonna go out, I was gonna run as hard as I could and just go crazy,” Peery said. “Just having that mentality of being able to keep up with the level of play when you go on, this definitely will help me finish that.”

Peery said that the trust the team has with each other helps everyone feel supported out on the field, especially when coming off the sidelines.

“When you’re on the field, you hear your name getting screamed and, like, it doesn’t matter if it’s your best friend, like, everyone just has your back,” Peery said. “And just knowing that your team trusts you makes you trust yourself and really just makes those minutes valuable on the field.”

West also said communication is something that the team is always working on during the game because it helps the team focus on each other.

“The best thing I can do when I don’t have the ball in my hands or my feet is just kind of to direct them and, like, let them know if there’s a player that they should be marking that’s open,” first-year goalkeeper Kira Kasarda said. “It’s just communication overall that kind of keeps us connected.”

This game was also a match-up of the goalies. Both goalies had been saving every shot that came their way up until the Regals scored. Kasarda recorded four saves this game to help keep the shutout and streak alive.

“When you’re the goalkeeper, you have adrenaline, so, like, even if you get knocked down, as long as you have the ball in your hands or keep the ball, that’s your main goal,” Kasarda said. 

Goalkeeper for the Poets, Mya Rodriguez, was named SCIAC defensive player of the week on Sept. 25, which Kasarda said she used as motivation to work hard for this match-up.

“I remember seeing the SCIAC post and I was like, ‘Oh, ok, so we play them this week. I might as well show out,’” Kasarda said. “That totally motivated me to work as hard as I could out there.” 

In the last five minutes of the game, the Poets applied more pressure, trying to score to force a tie. Kasarda said that the communication she has with her back row helps her feel more comfortable and helps take the pressure off. Kasarda also said that she talks to herself in those moments to keep herself focused and motivated.

“I say, ‘Hey, it’s not going in.’ ‘You can’t let this go in, especially when they’re on your final third.’ ‘They’re pressing you, they’re pressing your defenders. You don’t want to make a mistake.’ ‘You don’t want to make a foul.’ So you just have to all kind of play it through your head, talk to yourself, talk to your teammates and if you’re positive it’ll be ok,” Kasarda said. 

The following Saturday, the Regals headed to the University of Redlands where they topped the Bulldogs 1-0 thanks to a goal by West. The Regals (9-0-4 overall and 7-0 in the SCIAC) will be back at home on Wednesday, Oct. 16 to face the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens.