DAY AT THE BEACH

Saturday, September 26

Santa Barbara, CA

4:30 p.m.

California Baptist University

Westmont College (Calif.)

9/27/2009 2:45:00 AM | Women's Soccer

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Santa Barbara City College's La Playa Stadium has been kind to California Baptist University Head Coach Kristen St. Clair.

In her last visit to the scenic beachfront property, St. Clair, then an assistant coach at Westmont, was on the sidelines for the best game in NAIA Women's Soccer history when she witnessed the Warriors win the 2003 national championship with a seven-overtime victory over Lindsey Wilson.

In her first visit since that historic night in November of 2003, St. Clair watched as her Lancers ended a 15-game winless skid in Santa Barbara with a 2-0 win over her alma mater Westmont Saturday night in both team's GSAC opener.

“You always want your alma mater to do well unless you are playing them,” said St. Clair, who was a three-time All-American and the starting keeper on the Warriors' 1999 national championship team. “We are trying to keep progressing, taking it one game at a time. It's nice to get a win up here, because Westmont is a tough team to play, especially on the road.”

The Lancers' seventh straight shutout gives them their first-ever road win at Westmont in a series that dates back to 1991. They improve to 8-0-1 overall, 1-0-0 GSAC.

The Warriors, who have won five national titles and seven GSAC titles, fall to 2-3-1, 0-1-0.

Kylee Nicassio and Giannina Loza each scored for the Lancers.

CBU dominated the first 45 minutes, out-shooting the Warriors, 13-0, and if not for the play of Warrior keeper Roxanne Love for the full 90 minutes, the score could have been worse. Love saved a pair of Lancer breakaways and a point-blank shot in the final 10 minutes to keep the game close.

After chipping away, the Lancers finally broke through in the 34th minute when Nicassio got on the end of a Joanna Idom corner kick and headed in the game's first goal, her sixth of the season.

The Warriors picked up the pressure in the second half and finally registered their first shot in the 52nd minute. However, reigning NAIA Defensive Player of the Week Emily Evanson was there for the save, the first of six she had to make in the second half.

“We did a good job in the first half playing to feet and controlling the ball,” said St. Clair. “In the second half, the ball bounced around. Westmont made some good adjustments in the second half to limit us a bit, but we did a good job of sticking with our plan.”

The Lancers out-shot the Warriors, 22-9, in the game. Love made 10 saves. Evanson finished with six as the Lancer defense ran their scoreless streak to 669 consecutive minutes.

“Our defense is an experienced group and they have the simple mentality of keeping focus throughout the 90 minutes,” said St. Clair. “They are very composed, because we've been battle-tested against the nation's best this year. The maturity we've developed is coming through in their play.”

In the 80th minute, Nicassio got in behind the Warrior defense after a perfect through pass from Fabiola Zanella da Silva, but Love was up to the task saving the breakaway. Four minutes later, Nicassio broke through again, but Love came up big for the second straight time. Less than a minute after that, da Silva was alone at the top of the 18. She ripped a shot over Love, but the keeper was able to get a fist on it and punch it just over the crossbar.

However, in the 85th minute, da Silva made her way into the box and was taken down with a hard tackle by a Westmont defender, earning the penalty kick. Love nearly saved Loza's PK, but she couldn't keep the ball from sneaking past the goal line, and the Lancers put the game on ice.