Following a Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges loss that idled
the first-place team in the Southern California Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (SCIAC), the University of Redlands
women's soccer team swooped in to tie the Athenas for first
in the conference standings with a 9-0 demolishing of Whittier
College on Oct. 22.
Senior midfielder Becky Willis (Escondido, CA) started off scoring
7:40 into the match, netting an unassisted goal. Scoring her third
goal of the year, freshman midfielder Fionna Connolly (Salem, OR)
fired one home just nine minutes later to give the Bulldogs a 2-0
lead.
For the first time this year and the second time in her collegiate
career, sophomore defender Kelsey O'Callaghan (Salt Lake
City, UT) found the back of the net in the 34th minute,
capitalizing on a pass from sophomore defender Breann Puchalski
(Redlands, CA).
Before the end of the half, freshman forward Kaily Benenati
(Denver, CO) tickled the twine off of a feed from sophomore
midfielder Leslie Horner (Portland, OR).
The second half proved to be much of the same as Redlands did not
let up on the gas pedal and fired off five additional goals.
In the 55th minute, freshman defender Maddy Phillips (Seattle, WA)
took a corner kick to the back of the net, and Puchalski earned the
assist on the play to put the maroon and gray out in front 5-0.
At the 59:50 mark, Benenati notched goal No. 2 on the evening with
a score off of a corner.
The next two goals came from senior forward Erica Jahn (Davis, CA)
as she picked up goals in the 76th minute and the 85th minute,
respectively.
Finally, with less than two minutes left in regulation, senior
midfielder Lauren Matta (Holyoke, MA) delivered the final blow,
scoring her first goal of the season.
Neither Bulldog goalkeeper faced a shot on goal, and both junior
goalkeeper Tenley Rawlings (Salt Lake City, UT) and sophomore
goalkeeper Bailey Hughes (Boise, ID) pitched the shutout.
Lea Betsworth tended the net for the Poets and saved 10 shots on 19
fired on goal.
Both the corner kick margin (10-2) and the shot margin (29-3) went
in favor of the Bulldogs.
Redlands (10-4-1, 6-3 SCIAC) hosts Occidental College on Saturday,
Oct. 25 for an 11 a.m. kickoff. The last time the two teams met,
the Tigers upset the then-nationally-ranked Bulldogs 1-0 in Eagle
Rock.
