LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Cal Lutheran Regals remained undefeated as they took the Occidental Tigers to their second straight 0-0 draw. Sophomore goalkeeper Gabby Flores notched her third consecutive shutout in Wednesday night's contest, including six saves, her second highest career total.
The tie moves the Regals to 1-0-2 on the year and 0-0-1 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play.
Offensively, last season's SCIAC Newcomer of the Year, Trinity Martinez, led the team with three shots, including two on goal. Her first shot, and first attempt at goal for either side, came off a free kick just outside the box that sailed over the top bar a little over ten minutes into play.
From there, Cal Lutheran struggled to find their offensive chances the remainder of the first and were unable to get another clean shot off. Needing the defense to step up, Flores controlled her space between the posts and collected two vital saves in the closing seven minutes of the first period. Her diving stop on a free kick by Tiger Isabella Bonomi in the 39th minute and subsequent save in the final 67 seconds kept a clean sheet for Cal Lutheran heading into the half.
Flores collected two more saves in the second period and two in overtime. Her total of six on the night is her second highest career number, breaking her five saves made at Augsburg on August 31, and just two shy of her career-high eight recorded at Christopher Newport last year on September 8, 2017.
The offense picked up in the second half, though, adding five shots to the box score. Freshman Zoe Rodriguez-Willie opened the period with a free kick for Regals that flew on target but found the hands of Occidental's goalkeeper, Sydney Tomlinson, in the 48th.
Freshman Janelle Effarah added a free kick of her own seven minutes later, but again couldn't find the back of the net. The trend continued, unfortunately, as a shot from freshman Sonia Chan off a corner from Martinez in the 72nd minute found the keeper and senior Jordan Miller's attempt in the 81st was saved by Occidental defender, Elleni Bekele.
Looking for one more scoring opportunity, freshman Danielle Vis took off up the right side of the field in the 86th minute and found senior Riley Settles in the box, who took the final shot for Cal Lutheran in regulation, but was obstructed by Tomlinson to send the game into sudden death overtime.
The first overtime period faired better for the Tigers than the Regals. Occidental was awarded two corners and managed two headers by Layla Devlin and Katie Wood, but the balls tailed wide left and wide right, respectively.
After being unable to notch a shot in the first overtime period, Cal Lutheran responded with another late offensive surge, picking up three in the final ten minutes of the match. Martinez and Miller found their looks at the goal, but were both snubbed by the keeper.
In a last-ditch effort, junior Zandra Stewart connected with sophomore Sam Cornejo to nail one more shot on goal for the Regals with just 51 seconds remaining, but was deflected out of bounds by the keeper. The ensuing corner kick by Martinez with 32 seconds remaining saw a glimpse of hope for the team, but was cleared by the Tiger defense without allowing the Regals to find the space for one more shot.
Cal Lutheran continues conference play this Saturday, September 8, against the Caltech Beavers. The team kicks off at 11:00 a.m. at Caltech's North Field looking to maintain their undefeated start to the season.
Box Score: CLU 0, OXY 0
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Release by Christy Effendie, Assistant Sports Information Director
