BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A tight first half that found CSU Bakersfield's women's soccer team trailing Chicago State gave way to a dominant offensive display by the Roadrunners, who defeated the Cougars 6-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Main Soccer Field.
CSUB dominated the first half, taking 17 shots (10 on goal) to Chicago State's four. Chicago State's goalkeeper, Audra Wisehart, saved all 10 chances to keep the Cougars in the match. A defensive slip by the `Runners opened up an opportunity for Chicago State and Jensyn Stanberry beat the keeper to put the Cougars up 1-0 in the 21st minute.
During the break, CSUB head coach Gary Curneen gave his `Runners a pep talk to help the offense find the back of the net. "We talked about mentality," Curneen said after the match. "We have a few things going against us in different ways this season. We're fighting to get that momentum back and we're fighting to do what we said we were going to do. I was really proud of what they did today in the second half. When adversity strikes, you have always got the opportunity to put your head down, but our girls stepped up."
Unsatisfied by their missed chances in the opening 45 minutes, the `Runners came out of halftime with a fire. Just over five minutes into the second half, CSUB found the equalizer. Aryana Harvey streaked to the far post and finished Aminah Settles' pass for CSUB's first goal of the game.
The match quieted down for the next 18 minutes until Settles stole the ball from Wisehart and dinked a shot of the post to put the `Runners ahead 2-1. Settles' goal was the 20th of her career as the redshirt junior reset the CSUB Dvision I career goals record. That goal also opened the floodgates and started a run of five goals over the next 16 minutes.
Alexa Orrante netted her sixth of the season on a pass from Maja Green in the 71st. The redshirt junior from Chino Hills, Calif. leads all `Runners in goals this season. Less than two minutes later, Orrante set Sophie Freeman up for her second of the year to make the score 4-1.
Junior Sabrina Delgado scored her first of the year on a pass from Freeman in the 82nd minute. Freshman and Bakersfield native Eszter Toth capped the scoring in the 85th with her first collegiate goal, side stepping the CSU keeper after a pass from Jordan Martinez. The final goal put CSUB ahead 6-1 and the `Runners held on for the big victory.
CSUB used unselfish offense to surge past Chicago State as six different women scored on Sunday. The goals seemed to create chain reactions as three separate times a `Runner either set up a goal and then scored the next (Settles), or she scored a goal and assisted on the next (Orrante and Freeman). CSUB was relentless as 17 first-half shots and 23 in the second half led to a new, all-time, single-game record with 40 shots, 22 of which were on goal.
"Hopefully this will kick start us for the next two weeks because the next two weeks are huge," Curneen concluded. CSUB (6-9-1, 1-3-0 WAC) has just three matches remaining in the regular season. The `Runners will head to play Seattle U on Oct. 20 before returning home to host Utah Valley on Senior Day, Oct. 22.
CSUB is currently tied for fifth in the WAC standings with Seattle U. The pair of teams have four points each while Grand Canyon, which hosts CSUB in the regular-season finale Oct. 27, is just one point behind. Only the top six teams in the standings qualify for the WAC Tournament, so, the race is on.
~GoRunners.com~
