WHITTIER, Calif.– Despite an extremely dominant performance on the offensive end, the California Lutheran University women's soccer team was unlucky, unable to find the winning goal in a 2-1 loss to the Whittier Poets, Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
The Regals would strike the crossbar three times on the day, narrowly capitalizing on their multitude of scoring opportunities in the match, nearly doubling the Poets in shots (20-11). CLU were not as clinical as they would have liked, only placing five of their 20 shots on target.
Cal Lutheran showed their dominance in the opening 10 minutes, registering three shots including a thumping header from Alexandra Fagerberg. The junior nearly gave her team a 1-0 advantage as her attempt would rise just barely over the crossbar.
Mandy Crawford tried her luck in the 15th minute with a strike from just outside the penalty area but the freshman's effort also flew just high.
The Regals were extremely close to breaking through in the 27thminute when Danielle Vis made way down the left wing, getting forward from her left back position. The sophomore found some space about 10 yards away from goal, but her near-post attempt was denied by the Whittier goalkeeper.
The opening goal came in the 33rd minute when Kylie Garcia whipped in a beautiful ball from midfield to Remi Miller, just in front of the penalty spot. The junior did very well to bring the ball down with her first touch before poking the ball in to the back of the net with her second touch and give her team a 1-0. The goal was well-deserved after some wonderful attacking play in the first half from the Regals.
CLU would continue their relentless attack after the halftime kickoff. Sam Cornejo cut inside on to her left foot from her right-wing position in the 55th minute and her curler struck the crossbar, nearly doubling the Cal Lutheran lead.
Cornejo continued to find space on the wing, creating another great scoring opportunity when she whipped in a cross to Fagerberg on the back post but she would get under her shot as it flew just over the bar.
Whittier would eventually find an equalizer, scoring against the run of play through Erin Myers, leveling the score at 1-1. After some scrappy defending from the Poets, the game would head to overtime.
Trinity Martinez nearly gave the Regals the win when her free kick in the first half of overtime struck the crossbar, as Cal Lutheran's bad luck continued.
In the second half of overtime, Whittier managed to break through the Cal Lutheran defense and grabbed a winner through an unfortunate own goal for the CLU defense.
Miller picked up her second goal of the season and Alexa Soto made five saves between the posts.
Cal Lutheran gets back to action Sept. 21 at 2:30 p.m. when they return to William Rolland Stadium to host Caltech, looking for their first win in conference play.
Box Score: CLU 1, WC 2
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Release by Jeff Rebello, Sports Information Director
