ABILENE, TX--- It is officially the best time of the year for college soccer, and the California Baptist women's soccer program kicked off their postseason with a 2-0 convincing win over the five-seeded Tarleton Texans in the first match of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. The Lancers maintained possession through the majority of the match, and a few halftime adjustments led to a pair of goals that secured the program's first postseason victory.
"I'm really proud of the grit, work, and resilience of this team. To execute as well as we did after multiple 30-minute lighting delays takes a lot of discipline and focus," remarked Head Coach Kristen St. Clair. "In the first goal, Ava Westlund played a brilliant ball to Lauryn White for the go-ahead. Later in the half, Lauryn and Ava teamed up again on a great combination play to add an insurance goal".
After a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay due to lightning, the Texans and Lancers dueled on Abilene Christian's home field as the opener for the 2024 WAC Tournament. It was a scoreless first half on both sides, but not for lack of trying, as CBU launched eight shots and had five on the frame through the first 45 minutes. Just 25 seconds into the second half, Ava Westlund flicked Lauryn White into space, going on to get around a Texan defender for a right-footed goal for the first of the tournament. The match would then be delayed again due to lightning in the area.
Returning from the 30-minute stall, CBU's dominance was still on full display as the Lancers found several attacks in the opening ten minutes of the restarted second half. Morgan Witz even tapped in a goal that was ultimately ruled offsides, but it was a true testament to an aggressive CBU attack. The same call would happen in the 73rd minute after Kaylee Hauck also had a goal ruled offsides, but California Baptist would strike onside in the final ten minutes of the match after White scored her second of the evening to put CBU ahead by two.
"Our attack was firing, and we almost had 2-3 more goals," continued St. Clair. "Defensively, I thought we were superb, winning balls and eliminating any opportunities they started to build. We now turn our attention to preparing for Wednesday's semifinal game".
The Lancers were firing on all cylinders in Texas as Mikayla O'Brien earned her seventh shutout of the season, while the CBU backline allowed not a single shot on goal from the Texans. The win against Tarleton also marks California Baptist's first postseason win for the women's soccer program in the DI Era and was also Jayden Ramirez's 87th career match as a Lancer, solidifying a new program record for most career games played. The Lancers improve to 8-6-3 on the season and will now face the one-seeded Utah Valley Wolverines in the semifinals on November 6th at 4 p.m. PST.
