On Wednesday Oct. 8 the Cougars (3-5-4) went down to California to take on the Saint Mary’s Gaels. The Cougars were unable to secure the win falling to the Gaels 1-0. This is only the second Cougar road game in West Coast Conference play. 

The Cougs were able to see three key pieces back in action. Head coach Todd Shulenberger and starting goalkeeper Zora Standifer both were able to return. They both missed the last game serving a one-game suspension after both picking up red cards. Additionally the Cougars saw the return of redshirt-freshman Kiera MItchell who was in a mask to protect a facial injury. Mitchell has missed the last two games after going down with an injury against Seattle University on Sep. 24.

Seeing the return of Standifer and Mitchell is very positive for the Cougars. They have dealt with injuries all season defensively, seeing starting goalkeeper Kiera Fitzgerald go down against North Dakota State University on Sep. 18 and not returning this season. Additionally redshirt senior and captain Jenna Studer went down on Sep.14 against UC Irvine and will not return this season. Studer was named to the preseason all-WCC first team.

Defense was a prevalent theme of the night. Both defenses played tough and both Standifer and Saint Mary’s goalkeeper Kate Pleachy made great saves to prevent goals. Standfier was able to end the game with two saves. Pleacy ended the game with five saves. The lone goal in the game came in the 7th minute seeing Sydney Miggaugh score what would ultimately be the winning goal.

This is the only game in conference play that the Cougars have not been able to find the back of the net. The Cougars were able to create great chances but were unable to find the back of the net. Captain Maggie Mace led the team in shots with three.

New faces have been a big part of this team all year seeing five freshmen starting tonight. The freshman Aaya Mclyn made her first career start tonight for the Cougars. She got her first career assist last game. There were an additional three freshmen that were able to see action coming off of the bench.

Physicality is something to expect when playing the Cougars. In the 90 minutes played the Cougars ended the game with 15 fouls and one yellow card on Alena Watts for unsporting in the 60th minute. The Gales ended the game with 11 fouls and three yellow cards being issued to Madison Casado in the 18th minute for unsporting the second coming the 68th minute being issue to Maddie Lucas also for unsporting, and the final card was issued to Briana Salvetti in the 77th minute for timewasting. 

The Cougars return to action against LMU at 7 pm on Saturday Oct.11 at the lower soccer field.