THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Cal Lutheran women's soccer welcomed a familiar non-conference road warrior to William Rolland Stadium Tuesday morning, handing UC Santa Cruz a 3-0 defeat as the Regals continued their dominant run through the regular season.
The Slugs made their way south for a four-game tour of the SCIAC, shutting out Occidental, Azusa Pacific and Whittier before making their final stop in Thousand Oaks. The Regals made sure the visitors' perfect defensive run came to an end.
Cal Lutheran wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. In the 16th minute,
Keira Hazard found the back of the net for her first goal of the season, finishing a feed from
Hana Sawan to give the Regals a 1-0 lead.
The Regals then doubled their advantage in the 31st minute. Hazard helped set up the opportunity with a strong corner kick, which
Isabella Haulman redirected into the path of
Tessa French. French finished the play for her sixth goal of the season, putting Cal Lutheran ahead 2-0.
The Regals carried their two-goal advantage into halftime after controlling the opening 45 minutes. Cal Lutheran outshot the Slugs 17-3 and held a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks.
Cal Lutheran continued to dictate the pace after the break, limiting UC Santa Cruz to just three shots for the entire match. The Regals added an insurance goal in the 79th minute when Haulman finished a beautiful free kick from Sawan to make it 3-0.
The Regals finished with a commanding 29-3 advantage in shots, including 16 on goal, while earning 13 corners. UC Santa Cruz goalkeeper Ainsley Gove recorded nine saves, while
Reagan Keelan made one save to preserve the shutout.
With the win, Cal Lutheran improved to 14-1-3 overall and 9-0-2 in SCIAC play, extending its unbeaten streak to 11 games and maintaining its hold on second place in the conference standings.
The Regals have one regular-season game remaining, welcoming No. 15 Pomona-Pitzer to Rolland Stadium on Saturday for a Halloween showdown at 6 p.m. The two teams played to a draw in the SCIAC opener, and both enter the matchup unbeaten in conference play. With at least the No. 2 seed and a home semifinal in the SCIAC Tournament already secured, Saturday's result will determine who claims the regular-season conference title and the tournament's top seed.
