SEATTLE, Wash.--For the second consecutive Sunday Bakersfield played a tight first half with Seattle U, but for the second straight week, Seattle pulled away from the Roadrunners in the second half as the Redhawks (8-4-1, 4-1 WAC) defeated CSUB 5-1 Sunday afternoon in WAC women's soccer play.

The scoring started early when the Roadrunners' Alex Bachman (So., Buena Park, Calif., Cypress HS) connected for her second goal of the season at the 5:06 mark. Bachman's shot went in from left side after she took the ball down field from the 18-yard mark.

At little under two minutes later, Seattle U was awarded a penalty kick when Taylor Ritzman was taken down in the box.  Kelly Beck converted on the chance to tie the match at one. 36 seconds later, Ritzman took a crossing pass from Isabelle Butterfield and put the ball into the left side of the CSUB net for a 2-1 SU advantage.

In the 25th minute, the Redhawks pressured Bakersfield.  The Roadrunner defense withstood the challenge, turning away three shots in a 42-second span as the 'Runners blocked one attempt, posted a team save, before CSUB goalie Tori Ornela (R-Jr., Lemoore, Calif., Lemoore HS) made a save and was able to clear the ball out of the Roadrunner end.  Ornela's aggressive play continued a short time later as she won a one-on-one challenge with SU's Celia Vaughn.

Seattle was awarded a second penalty kick in the 35th minute and Beck again took the shot, but Ornela came up with the save and keep the match at 2-1.  A third penalty kick attempt was awarded to the Redhawks five minutes into the second half when Morgan Cole (Fr., Fort Wayne, Ind., Homestead HS) was issued a red card. Stephanie Verdoia converted the PK attempt for her league leading 11th goal of the season and a 3-1 Seattle U lead.

Bakersfield (1-12-1, 0-4 WAC) would play with 10 players for the remainder of the match. Natasha Howe and Jacqui Wallis posted two goals in a span of 1:32 to take a 5-1 lead midway through the closing stanza. SU would outshoot Bakersfield 20-3. Ornela made five saves before giving way to Megan Vina (So., McKinleyville, Calif., Arcata HS) in the 70th minute.

“Obviously we are disappointed with the result,” said Bakersfield head coach Gary Curneen. “We had no complaints that Seattle was the better side today but we always felt we were in the game until the third goal. When we went down to 10 players it gave us a mountain to climb. Overall, I'm proud of what the girls have done this weekend. We took the lead in both games and for 60 minutes, more than competed. We need to turn these into 90-minute performances and, with huge games coming up, our growth in this area will determine our season.”

Bakersfield travels to Chicago State on Friday for a 7 p.m. (CDT) start.

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