California Baptist University
Dixie State
Victory Lap
11/6/2011 1:58:00 AM | Women's Soccer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Having already wrapped the Pacific West Conference title, California Baptist University took a victory lap Saturday.
The Lancers also honored their remarkable five-member senior class in the process.
Seniors Fabiola Zanella da Silva and Amanda Lammers scored, and the Lancers dominated play in a 3-0 PacWest win over visiting Dixie State on Senior Day in the regular-season finale. Lammers also had an assist.
It was the Lancers' third win this year over Dixie State by a combined score of 10-1.
The win improves the Lancers to 14-2-1 overall, 10-1-1 (31 points) PacWest. They will next begin play in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Tournament next weekend, hosting regional games Friday and Saturday.
The Red Storm sees their season come to a close at 7-8-3, 5-4-3 (18 points).
Before the game, the five CBU seniors-da Silva, Lammers, Megan Merrett, Nicoline Jorgensen and Kylee Nicassio, who have combined for nearly 70 wins, three national tournament berths, five all-conference awards, three All-Americans and a host of program records-were honored.
Then they went to work.
"This group of seniors is special, and they have set a new standard for this program," said CBU Head Coach Kristen St. Clair. "It's a tremendous class, and it's great to see them have a hand in the result, but they led us with their work ethic today."
Though the day belonged to the seniors, sophomore Bernadette Witz put the Lancers on the board first, finishing with a beautiful shot to the near post after a nice 1-2 with Nicassio, who registered her 111th career point.
The Lancers, who ended up outshooting the Red Storm 24-9, carried that 1-0 lead into halftime and then put two goals away late to put the game away.
da Silva scored in the 80th minute with a cheeky back heel shot off an assist from Lammers, who then scored in the 86th minute, putting the ball into an open net after a dump in by Kayla Kellstrom.
For da Silva, it was her 10th goal of the season, her third straight year with double digit goals. Lammers scored her seventh of the year and 22nd of her career, which is good for 15th on the Lancers' career chart.
"It was nice to have the conference title already taken care of, so we focused on finishing well today," said St. Clair. "The seniors have inspired us and we wanted to honor them with our performance today. It was a good finish to the regular season and hopefully good momentum heading into our postseason."
Jorgensen made four saves, including two back-to-back, one at point blank, to record the Lancers' 10th shutout of the season. It was her 11th career clean sheet.
