No. 15 Cal Lutheran Upset in SCIAC Tourney Semifinals
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - In the first-ever, and following Wednesday's result the only ever SCIAC soccer tournament game to take place at West Field the top-seed and regular season conference champs Cal Lutheran suffered a shutout loss to Redlands on home soil.
Box Score: UR 2, CLU 0 - F
To put things in perspective, the Regals had lost only one time all season heading into today's contest. Cal Lutheran had given up only multiple goals once the entire year and went on to win that game by a 3-2 score. Offensively, CLU had scored in every home game this season and all but one contest the entire year.
At home Cal Lutheran was unbeaten posting a 7-0-1 record when playing in Thousand Oaks. CLU had beaten every SCIAC opponent this season including a pair of shutout wins over UR, with the latest a 3-0 home victory only 11 days ago.
Unfortunately for Cal Lutheran, recent history did not factor in the result.
Stylistically neither score was much to brag about but statistically the Bulldogs could not have asked for much more. Despite earning only four corner kicks the visitors made the most of their limited opportunities including its first of the game in the 17th minute.
UR's Breann Puchalski served in the cross that both the CLU defensive group and goalkeeper Kristin Borzi failed to clear or take possession, allowing for a shot attempt from a close range shot attempt taken by Chelsea Hafley open the scoring and net the eventual game-winner.
CLU's best first half chance came after UR goalkeeper Rachel Foreman picked up a pass that was passed back to her by a teammate, allowing for an indirect kick inside the 18-yard box for the hosts. However a mistimed pass led to a lackluster shot attempt that was blocked away by a Redlands field player.
That 1-0 margin would hold until halftime when Regals freshman Jess Armstrong nearly tied the game after her shot attempt was deflected and struck flush off the cross bar. A follow-up attempt by Kristina Hulse forced the first of two second half saves from Rachel Foreman.
However the Regals were seeing double after Pulchaski delivered a corner kick early in the second half that again was not cleared and eventually put away by team leading scorer Fiona Connolly at the 56:34 mark.
Cal Lutheran (18-2-1) will wait to hear if it receives an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship Tournament which is set to begin late next week. The Regals are currently ranked No. 15 nationally by D3Soccer.com and No. 17 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA).
No. 4 Redlands (9-9-0) will play in the SCIAC Tournament finals on Saturday, Nov. 6 on the road against No. 2 Occidental, which tied with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before advancing due to penalty kicks by a 6-5 margin.
