California Baptist University
Kansas Wesleyan University
SISTER ACT
9/10/2010 1:42:00 AM | Women's Soccer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- The older sister scored her first goal in nearly four years. The younger sister had a dramatic game-winner. At the end of the day, it was good to be a Nicassio.
And a Lancer.
Kylee Nicassio's second goal of the year with 2:48 left lifted the NAIA's No. 8-ranked California Baptist University to a vexing 2-1 win over unranked Kansas Wesleyan Thursday afternoon, getting the Lancers back into the win column.
The win moves the Lancers to 3-1, while the Coyotes, who went to overtime in their first three games, fall to 0-2-2.
With the game deadlocked at one and the Coyotes' fourth overtime looming, Nicassio collected the ball on the left side, took a few touches and out of nowhere and in a crowd ripped a 30-yard blast that zipped past Coyote keeper Karina Albarran and into the upper right corner of the net. Two inches higher or to the right and the ball hits the woodwork.
Instead, Nicassio's strike put an end to a grind and a somewhat frustrating day for the Lancers.
"We weren't as sharp as we would have like to have been," said CBU Head Coach Kristen St. Clair. "Kansas Wesleyan is a hard-working team, but to the girls' credit they showed good composure, stayed disciplined, chipped away and worked through it and got the result we wanted. Kylee's strike was unbelievable."
The Lancers out-shot the Coyotes, 26-9, but struggled to put shots on frame, getting just seven shots on goal. And adding to the frustration was the fact that in the 23rd minute, they were awarded a penalty kick, but a usually reliable All-American Fabiola Zanella da Silva, who had made each of her previous three penalty kicks the past three years, banged this one of the post. The Coyote defense cleared it from danger.
The Lancers, though, broke through three minutes later.
Kitra Walters played a ball into the area, and when Albarran came out and pushed it out, it landed right at the feet of Kyrie Nicassio. With Albarran way off her line, the senior defender lifted a shot from about 25 yards out on the right side over Albarran and into the net to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead. It was her first goal since October 2007 against The Master's, her freshman season.
The lead, however, stood for less than 10 minutes as Corina Villegas scored the equalizer from a free kick just outside the area when she went around the wall and past Lancer keeper Nicoline Jorgensen.
CBU ripped off 14 shots in the second half alone but came up empty nearly every time. Overtime was knocking on the door as the Coyotes, who didn't get a shot off in the final 22 minutes, seemed content to play extra time
But the Nicassio sisters put their stamp on this one, which is a welcomed site considering the duo missed most of last season with injuries suffered within three weeks of each other.
"It is so great to see the two of them getting back into form and rounding into shape," said St. Clair. "They have worked hard to get back on the field, and it paid off for both of them today."
