California Baptist University (10-2-2, 8-2-1) returns to their winning ways in a 1-0 victory over UTRGV women’s soccer (8-5-2, 5-5-1) earlier today at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
After beating Lancers on Thursday, in a postgame news conference via Zoom, UTRGV Head Coach Glad Bugariu explained how he expected the best shot from CBU in the rematch as they looked to keep pace in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) standings with Seattle U and Utah Valley for the regular season title.
“The pressure is all on [CBU], they lose, they lose [the regular season] title,” Bugariu said. “They’ll have to face the heat; they’ll have to face a very good team. Ultimately the pressure is on them.”
In the opening minutes of the first half, the Vaqueros controlled most of the possession and had two shots on goal from junior forward Emily Zapata in the 6th minute and sophomore midfielder Anna Torslov in the 15th but both were neutralized by Lancer senior goalkeeper Romy Salvador.
Salvador would finish the day with four saves to help CBU to their seventh clean sheet of the season.
The Lancers then struck in the 19th minute with a junior forward Ari Coronado high arching, curling shot from 16 yards out to the far post past the outstretched arms of junior goalkeeper Maile Lunardi to take the 1-0 lead.
Senior forward Rola Badwiya was credited with the assist picking up her fifth of the season, tied for first in the conference alongside teammate Coronado and Utah Valley sophomore midfielder Heather Stainbrook.
UTRGV tried to even the match before the break but shots from Torslov, sophomore defender Delaney Carrell and Zapata all missed their marks.
In the second half, CBU continued to put their foot on the gas as they applied constant pressure looking for the 2-0 insurance goal.
The Vaqueros expended a lot of energy on the defensive end but were able to withstand five shots, one on goal, from the Lancers as Lunardi would finish the day with two saves.
Offensively, UTRGV only created one shot in the second half coming in the closing minutes from freshman forward Mari Liis Lilleme that missed wide right of the goal.
In a postgame news conference via Zoom, Bugariu credited CBU for their winning performance in grueling weather conditions of 27 mph winds and blistering 90-degree heat, conditions that typically wither opponents away and the Vaqueros take advantage of.
“This is where we have to embrace the heat and the wind and we have to perform at the highest level,” Bugariu said. “It was disappointing that the opposition was able to play as well as they did in these conditions. These are conditions that we must dominate in, those are conditions that we must win in and all credit to [California Baptist], it was a well-deserved victory.”
Now closing out the season, with the final three games on the road starting with new WAC member Dixie State 8 p.m. Thursday the message from Bugariu was simple as the team looks for their 5th straight winning campaign.
“On the road it’s about results, getting any result will be a positive,” Bugariu said.
With the three points and Seattle U falling on the road to Utah Valley University 1-4, the Lancers regain the conference lead for the regular season title with 26 points and both the Redhawks and Wolverines are tied for second with 23 points.
Twitter: @Radio_Rubio
