SAN DIEGO – In Saturday's faceoff between two regionally ranked teams in the West, the host and PacWest undefeated Point Loma defeated Dixie State 2-0 near the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Dixie State (7-7-1, 5-4 PacWest) was shutout for the second consecutive match and for the third time this season. The Sea Lions improved to 9-0 in league and 10-2 overall behind a pair of second half goals.
"This was a tough loss for us," Storm head coach
Kacey Bingham said. "It's hard when you play as well as we did and as hard as we did and not come away with a win."
PLNU's Shelby Murphy netted her third goal of the year proved to be the game-winner. After a shot rebounded of the crossbar in the 64
th minute, Murphy headed in the ricochet past Storm goalkeeper
Danica Nusink (Springville, UT/Springville) for a 1-0 lead.
Goal number two for the hosts came in the 73
rd minute on a shot from the right side that clipped inside the left post.
Dixie State had a 5-4 shot advantage in the first half. The first look of the game did not materialize until the 17
th minute.
Erica Gonzalez (Avondale, AZ/Westview) attempted a header, but her effort went wide right. The Storm then peppered shots in the final 10 minutes of the opening half. Two shots, from
Mindi Beckstrom (Nibley, UT/Mountain Crest) and
Kaisa Rogers (Springville, UT/Springville), sailed high and two others, from
Tana Singley (Farmington, UT/Viewmont) and
Jennifer Mason (Springville, UT/Springville), were saved.
After falling behind by two goals, the Storm did not abandon their attacking style. Four more shots fell off target to keep DSU off the scoreboard.
"We knew it was a big game and we were ready for it," Bingham added. "For being such a good goal-scoring team, it just didn't happen for us this week."
Nusink made four saves between the posts. Rogers,
Dayli Schmieder (Flagstaff, AZ/Coconino), and
Breanna Parkinson (Tucson, AZ/Sahauro) played the full 90 minutes while
Jasmine Arollo (Glendale, AZ/Apollo) led all reserves with 69 minutes.
PLNU outshot the Storm 15-11 although both teams had four corner kicks. Nine different players fired shots, led by two each for Gonzalez and Mason.
Dixie State closes out its regular season road schedule with a 4-6 record.
The Storm has their final three matches scheduled at home on the turf at Hansen Stadium. First on the dance card is a match with Dominican on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.