Winning at home has become somewhat of a regular for the Regals women’s soccer team. They continued that streak Saturday night with a 1-0 win against a Pomona-Pitzer side that had yet to suffer a loss in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

“We found a way to win the game. I thought we were better in the second half, but we never really found a good rhythm except for a ten or fifteen-minute stretch in the second half,” Head Coach Frank Marino said.

That stretch of play was joined by many long throws at the hands of sophomore Maddy Greiss, who was consistently able to get the ball into the box from 15 or more yards away.

“She has been here for two years, so we’ve done them before. We have a couple of set plays off of them and we are just obviously trying to create havoc in the box,” Marino said.

The long throw proved to be the difference after Greiss launched one into the box and senior Kali Youngdahl was able to get onto the end of it and direct the ball into the back of the net.

“Depending on where the ball goes, I am looking to either flick it on or just distract the other player if it goes over my head,” Youngdahl said after scoring her team high fifth goal of the season.

Following Youngdahl’s goal, the Regals and Sagehens both had opportunities to score, but were unable to put away any of the many chances they had.

The Regals had eight shots with two on goal, while the Sagehens racked up seven with three on goal.

The Regals combined their fierce attack on Pomona-Pitzer’s goal with a stellar performance on the defensive end.

Cal Lutheran was able to record their fourth shutout of the season led by freshman goalkeeper Gabby Flores and a backline that has only conceded two goals in their six SCIAC games.

“The first half was a little rough, but I think the second half we found our center mids more and connected with our forwards,” said freshman Trinity Martinez, who put in a great shift on the back line playing a majority of the game. She was a key part of the shutout.

The Regals were looking to get more players involved in the game and they did just that. Multiple Regal players made their SCIAC debuts.

“We are trying to manage bodies throughout the season and we just had to get a few people in to kind of get people a little bit of a rest,” Marino said.

The players need rest because the Regals have three games in the next week against the University of California Santa Cruz, Whittier and a tough road match against third place Redlands.

When asked about things they need to improve on moving forward Martinez said they, “Definitely need to work on the first 15 minutes of the game. We need to come out a lot stronger than usual. It is really tough the first few minutes, but once we get our rhythm then it is a lot better.”

The Regals will look to continue their home dominance against out-of-conference opponent UC Santa Cruz Monday, Oct. 2 at William Rolland Stadium.

Gabe Naudin
Reporter