The University of Redlands women's soccer team shut out the Poets of Whittier College by a score of 5-0 on the eve of Halloween at Farquhar Field.
Prior to the game, the Bulldogs honored its class of 2011 with a short presentation and then the seniors provided plenty of excitement by stepping up their play in the final home game of the regular season. This included senior forward Emily Birzak's (Columbia, MD) fifth goal of the season less than three minutes into the contest. Fellow senior defender Chelsea Hafley (Redlands, CA) provided the assist for her 11th point of the 2010 campaign.
Redlands collected its second score as Whittier failed to clear a Bulldog corner and resulted in an own goal in the 13th minute.
Senior forward Leslie Horner (Portland, OR) scorched a long liner at the 14:50 mark off of sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Foreman's (San Jose, CA) quick touch. The netter counted as Horner's sixth in her Redlands tenure, while the assist was the young net-minder's first of her career.
Prior to the end of the half, junior forward Maddy Phillips (Seattle, WA) fed senior forward Jessi Hoyt (Boise, ID) a nice ball, which resulted in her 13th score as a four-year Bulldog.
Phillips and junior midfielder Fionna Connolly (Salem, OR) teamed up for a well-played distribution of the ball that led to junior forward Jaimie Morton's (Boise, ID) goal at the 50th minute to cap off the Bulldogs' scoring output.
Between its three goalkeepers, Redlands collected a complete-game shutout. Freshman Jill Stika (Sammamish, WA) highlighted their success in her first collegiate action and picked up a save in the process.
With the victory, Redlands (8-9, 6-6 SCIAC) looks forward to competing in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament on Wednesday afternoon. The Bulldogs enter the tournament as the fourth seed and face off against top-seeded Cal Lutheran University at 2:30 p.m. in Thousand Oaks.
