Beaver women’s soccer fell 1-2 to the Loyola Marymount University Lions on a cold night in Paul Lorenz stadium on Wednesday.
Both offenses pushed early to get the momentum rolling, matching each other in shots on goal early on. Both had four shots on goal within the first 20 minutes of the game.
However, it was LMU that took more advantage of the early opportunities.
Despite the efforts of junior goalkeeper Mya Sanchez, who blocked an initial shot on goal, she was unable to recover from the next incoming shot chipped in by LMU Grad student Jennessa Groves who closely stayed near the play.
Playing from behind this early put pressure on the Beavers. As the game continued they were more likely to attempt shots from further range than usual. The Lions’ defense is top in the conference, allowing 1.07 goals per game to rank third among teams.
“I just think we weren’t as dynamic as we’ve been in the past,” head coach Caroline Kelly said.
The pressure of the Lions’ defense seemed to force the Beavers to take fewer percentage shots and use less of the field.
Despite the early score, the Beavers did keep well in line to continue matching shots on goal within the first half. OSU and LMU tied at halftime in shots on goal at four. Led by senior Carly Carraher with two and senior Katie Godden and senior Mckenna Martinez adding one each.
OSU ranks above LMU in goals allowed with 0.80, and allowed LMU to put two more corner kick attempts as opposed to the Beavers with their seven.
With one of these corner kicks by the Lions, senior Kylie Dobbs was able to pass to her teammate senior Meagan Rucker for the first goal of the second period. Putting the lions up 2-0.
Now playing from down two goals the Beavers started to run into problems with the foul calls and officiating. Ending the game with a total of 13 fouls and two yellow cards.
“Just disrupted the flow and played into what they wanted to do (LMU). Quality on LMU’s part,” Kelly said.
Junior Paola Figueroa had the most of any players in the game with a total of four.
Being one of the best assisting members of the team, this somewhat hindered the Beavers’ ball movement.
Tensions remained high as the game went on with players getting chippy with each other on multiple occasions.
The Beavers saw slightly less production from the talented widespread reserves when subbed into the game. Beaver Nation saw another appearance from senior Rin Choi, who has now appeared in four straight games off the bench.
Despite the struggle of the late-game momentum, the Beavers were able to pull together a goal to inspire some hope for the team.
Within the final ten minutes of the game, Martinez was able to navigate through a crowd off an assist from fifth-year Valerie Tobias to score a goal and bring them within a score to tie.
Martinez is within the top ten of players with goals scored against conference opponents for the Beavers.
As the game crept within the final five minutes, the Beavers were playing with a sense of urgency and had cleaner offensive chemistry, keeping the ball on their side of the field for the majority of their comeback effort.
“I appreciate it, just wish we had done it for at least 60 minutes and not the last six,” Kelly said.
The Lions’ defense held strong and was able to run out the clock to finish the game with a final score of 2-1.
The game saw a high number of shots by the end with 45 shots total and eight shots on goal from each team. Both goalkeepers had a total of 13 saves combined, with Lions sophomore goalkeeper JJ Hoover totaling seven to help keep their lead.
This starts a three-game homestand for the Beavers, their next matchup coming once again at Paul Lorenz Field against the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday, at 12 p.m.
