Senior Jameisha Washington scored with less than six minutes left in regulation to give Westmont Women’s Soccer a 2-1 win at Westminster (Utah) on Saturday. With the win, the Warriors improved to 1-0-1 while their hosts dropped to 1-2-1.

“JJ’s goal was incredible” said Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely. “She took a shot from about 30 yards out which rebounded off the keeper. The keeper came out to clear it but missed. JJ capitalized by taking a one-touch shot to the far post. She beat the keeper against the wind. It was beautiful. To have the composure to see it and to do it all against the wind took a lot of maturity and focus.”

The Warriors fell behind early when Westminster’s Heather Hillam scored in the eleventh minute after a corner kick.

“Their goal was frustrating because we had spent a decent amount of time (in training) on defending corner kicks and making sure everyone is marked up,” said Kiely. “The ball got loose, the attacker was open and she hit a nice shot to the back post that would have been very hard to save.”

[box score]

The first official soccer game at Thorrington Field left fans wanting a little more – specifically, wanting a goal. The Warriors hosted the Spartans of Trinity Western (B.C.) (0-3-1) on Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference game and played to a scoreless tie through two overtime periods.

“It was pretty frustrating,” acknowledged Westmont head coach Kristi Kiely, “but I think we can learn from it. Last week (in the scrimmage with Santa Barbara City College) we learned we could finish and we saw things to improve on. This game we learned even more.

“We weren’t able to penetrate,” explained the coach. “With having a great rotation of six players up top, we still haven’t been able to find that combination and connection between some of them. I think we will fight for that the next few days and I think we have to figure out our shape in the back. I think our shape has been average. We are letting people run off the ball and run off us. We are not staying committed and disciplined to things we can do well individually on the defensive side of the game.”

[stats]

2010 Westmont Women’s Soccer Season Preview

The coil of a rattlesnake ready to strike, the crouch of a tiger ready to pounce, the gathering of storm clouds ready to unleash. Such anxious anticipation is in the air surrounding the Westmont women’s soccer team as the start of the season nears.

Since the end of the 2009 season, when Kristi Kiely was named the head coach, the spring has been slowly winding, and is now about to be released. A former player at Westmont and a member of three national championship teams, Kiely’s desire is to bring the program back to national prominence.

She is not alone in her desire.

Returning players have devoted themselves to a summer of preparation. In danger of becoming the first class in 17 years to fail to play in the national tournament, this year’s eight seniors have led the way to make sure that doesn’t happen. Muscles have been strengthened, skills have honed, determination has been focused.

Add to that mixture the recruitment of one of the strongest classes in years. Consisting of six freshmen and two Division I transfers, the newcomers add fuel to the explosive potential of this year’s club.

Westmont Women’s Soccer Head Coach Kristi Kiely has announced that Leeza Henderson of Phoenix, Arizona will be making her way from Arizona State to the campus of Westmont this fall.

Henderson saw limited action at ASU due to a torn ACL, which occurred five games into her freshman year. Still recovering from her injury, the red-shirt sophomore played in just three games last season.

Kiely is hoping that the now healthy 5-7 forward will add to the Warriors’ fire power this season.

“Coach Kevin Boyd at Arizona State noted that she is very good in the air with a rocket of a shot,” said Kiely. “He said he never wanted to be in goal in training when she was shooting. As long as we can place her around the goal area and get her the ball, I think she will have a lot of success.

By Kristi Kiely

Greetings from Santa Barbara,

We are back and everyone made it home safe! I would have written last night but once 2 p..m. came (midnight for us) I turned into a Zombie and there’s no telling what this entry would have looked like. So, let me catch you up our last three days…

Saturday morning we got up and drove to Parra Lodge (a safari lodge in northern Uganda). It was an interesting switch back into an affluent culture but still in Africa. Once we arrived we went straight into our first leg of the safari: the Nile River. We got on a boat on THE NILE (which is still somewhat bazaar to say) and cruised on up to an incredible waterfall: Murchison Falls. On the Nile we saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants, more hippos, various birds and still, more hippos. It was an incredibly beautiful place full of wildlife.

By Kristi Kiely

Greetings from the end of our trip,

It’s Friday evening and we have finished our time in Gulu. Sorry for my absence in yesterdays blog…computer access was limited. First I must say, Happy Birthday Dan! Dan spent his 55th birthday here in Gulu doing some of the things he loves most: building a piggery and being serenaded by our women’s team at dinner.

Yesterday, we spent ALL day working on various projects (from digging to building a piggery) in the “bush” as they call it here in Gulu-meaning those that live deep in the bush in huts as part of small villages they are trying to rebuild after the war. It was a long and fruitful day. It felt good to work with our hands to the point of exhaustion. Nicole and I also shared the hard task of holding the cutest Ugandan baby! After our long day in the trenches we had a wonderful dinner (some of us had goat) outside under the Ugandan sky.

By Kristi Kiely

We arrived in Gulu yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon after crossing the Nile, feeding Baboons and taking about 6.5 hours to make a 4.5 hour trip. It was a long day but we made it. For those of you new to Ugandan history, Gulu is in the north where there was most recently a civil war. The people here have experienced major trauma and are in need of both great love and education. A lot of their civilization, or way of living, was taken from them and they are struggling trying to find a way to get back to that point. After the rebel war NGO’s filled this area handing out food and other necessities.

By Kristi Kiely

Greetings from our last day in Kampala,

“You are most welcome” as they say in Uganda. Thank you for enjoying this journey with us in Kampala. Today was our last day in Kampala and it was a great day.

We enjoyed our last morning devotional with the Good News team. The devotional times have been such a strong time of worship, prayer and learning God’s word. We are most thankful for them and sad to leave them behind. Following the devotional time we went to play again with Hearts United (the female version of the Good News team). Our girls love working with the women, getting to know them, love them, show them Jesus and empower them. The time we have spent with Hearts United has been such a gift. After our morning playing with the young girls we drove to Entebbe to play our second match. Another one-of-a-kind experiences: 5 minutes to warm up, people on the sidelines EVERYWHERE (even right next to me while I was coaching), I had to step into the game (we only have 1 sub)…etc. We won again on a goal from Haley Yurtin (goal number 2 for her in Africa)! It was a great game and we were able to spend some time sharing in small groups after the game with our opponents.