WSU soccer (4-3-3) beat the San Diego Toreros (2-5-4) on Saturday at Lower Soccer Field, claiming a 1-0 victory in their first contest as a WCC affiliate.
WSU was coming off a well-fought stalemate against the highly-ranked Utah State Aggies squad, while USD had already opened conference play with a 1-1 draw against San Francisco at home.
WSU coach Todd Shulenberger said the team are emphasizing starting conference play with a strong performance, and the Cougars delivered that performance for their coach.
WSU started the match without missing a beat, rattling off three shots, one of which narrowly missed the back of the net, requiring a save from Toreros keeper Ilise Medrano. The Cougs slowed down their offensive attack after the initial barrage but still faced minimal resistance for the rest of the half.
Despite outshooting the Toreros 8-4 in the first half, it would take until the 42nd minute for an offensive breakthrough. The awareness and positioning issues of the USD defense were made clear when center-back Reese Tappen sent a beautiful through ball to the left corner where forward Reniyah Burton just caught up to the ball and immediately sent a low cross with her left foot to the middle of the box.
Freshman Kendall Campbell, untouched and unguarded, took a sliding shot that easily flew past Medrano.
“It was a great goal,” Shulenberger said after the game, “but the way she committed to go down to the ground and lay her body out to score was great.”
The Cougs dominated possession in the first half, as USD struggled to mount an attack of their own. The backline held strong, and the Toreros could not execute as their offense was called offside five times in just the first half.
The second half was much of the same as the first: WSU dominating possession and a general lack of USD offensive energy. Midfielder Megan Santa Cruz put on the strongest offensive showing for the Cougs in the second half, with three shot attempts including one that just narrowly missed over the crossbar in the 57th minute. WSU outshot USD again in the second half, this time 6-2.
The Toreros did scare the Cougar defense a couple of times late, giving goalie Nadia Cooper her first real challenge of the night in the 73rd minute, USD penetrated deep into the box forcing a Cooper save at the right goal post. Cooper was forced out of position on a couple of other attacks, but these attempts were all but too late.
The Cougs finished the match 1-0, but looked like the superior side for all 90 minutes. Several missed vertical balls and a lack of consistent execution were issues present Saturday that have persisted all season, something Shulenberger said earlier in the week he hopes to improve in order to score more goals in conference play.
Shulenberger stressed connecting the offensive attack with top-down defensive effort.
“Well we talk about how everybody starts with defending up top,” Shulenberger said. “We’ve been putting the pressure on the forwards to do a better job defending and in the midfield. The backline has been solid all year, Nadia Cooper’s been first class as well, just reading and understanding the game. We may not score a lot, but we’re hard to score on.”
Campbell, the freshman forward from Southern California, scored just her second collegiate goal Saturday and finished with three total shots. Cooper, who only needed to make two saves on the night, earned her fourth clean sheet of the season. She is now tied for third and fourth in program history for career wins (30) and shutouts (18).
WSU begins a quick road trip down to Southern California this week when they play Pepperdine on Wednesday and LMU on Saturday. San Diego heads back home to Torero Stadium to take on Gonzaga on Wednesday.
