It wasn’t the start that Westmont Women’s Soccer (3-4, 0-1) envisioned for the start of Golden State Athletic Conference play. After battling #16 Vanguard (6-1-1, 1-0) to a 0-0 tie in regulation, the Warriors suffered a 1-0 loss three minutes into overtime on Saturday in Costa Mesa.

“I thought we played well,” said head coach Rebecca Mouw. “We did a good job of possessing the ball, winning balls and getting in toward the goal. We played with a lot of intensity. I thought our central midfield did a good job controlling possession.”

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Junior midfielder Taylor Callan had two assists, including one in the final minute of the game, as Westmont Women’s Soccer (3-3) upended the Regals of California Lutheran
(2-4-1) by a score of 4-0 at Russ Carr Field on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors saw shots from eleven different players and out shot California Lutheran 22-1. Fourteen of Westmont’s shots were on goal.

“I felt like we put some opportunities away with some good finishes,” said head coach Rebecca Mouw. “Taylor’s corner kicks were fantastic today. It really helps when you can be consistent off of those. The team did a better job of combining as a unit, and that was very encouraging for us.”

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#11 Westmont Women’s Soccer found it tough going at UC Santa Cruz on Saturday. The Banana Slugs, a quarterfinalist in NCAA Division III last season, kept the Warriors from scoring and walked away with a 2-0 victory.

“We could not connect going forward,” said head coach Rebecca Mouw.

The Warriors found themselves on the wrong end of a 12-1 shot ratio between the two teams, though they posted a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.

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In a game played almost exclusively on the Warriors’ offensive end of the field, Westmont women’s soccer (2-2) recorded a 3-0 victory on Saturday over Holy Names (0-4) at Russ Carr Field. The Warriors out shot the Hawks 19-0 in the game an held a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.

“We learned a lot of things about our team after our last game and we had a week break to work on them,” said head coach Rebecca Mouw. “We keyed in on those things this entire week and it was fun to see our team come out and capitalize on those things we worked on and do those things well. The whole team played very well and we had two freshmen score their first collegiate goal. The team came out with a good amount of energy and the right attitude.”

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Westmont women’s soccer (1-2) took on the top-ranked NCAA Division III team on Saturday, losing by a score of 2-0 to the Thunder of Wheaton (Ill.) Wheaton scored in the sixth and twenty-fourth minute of the first half to claim the win.

Wheaton (2-0), which has won two of the last three Division III national championships, out shot the Warriors 16-12 and posted a corner kick advantage of 10-2.

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Freshman midfielder Taylor Callen scored her first collegiate goal and then recorded her first collegiate assist to help lead Westmont Women’s Soccer to a 2-0 shutout over DePauw of Indiana (0-1), the NCAA Division III’s twenty-third ranked team. Amy Lawson picked up her second goal of the season just before the close of the first half to give Westmont (1-1) the victory. The Warriors are playing in the Bob Baptista Invitational in Wheaton, Illinois.

“We withstood a lot of pressure from DePauw early in the game,” reported head coach Rebecca Mouw. “Then we started putting together some runs and creating some opportunities. Taylor had the ball on the right side at about the 30 minute mark and took a couple of defenders on – beating them and scoring from about 20 yards out.”

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It was not the season opener which head coach Rebecca Mouw had in mind – especially one conducted on her birthday. Westmont women’s soccer did not look impressive in the first half of their game against Cal State San Bernardino (2-0). The Warriors were out shot 5-0 in the first 45 minutes with two of the Coyotes’ shots finding the back of the net as CSU San Bernardino spoiled the party with a 2-1 win.

“We came out flat in the first half,” acknowledge Mouw. “Our inability to do the small things correctly kept us from functioning as a team.”

The Coyotes’ first goal came just 4:48 into the game on a one-on-one shot attempt by Katie Liby from 8 yards out. A series of three passes set up Liby who had three shots on goal in the first half.

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Passion, determination, confidence, unity - four words which serve as significant descriptors of the 2007 edition of Westmont women’s soccer. This team intends to win and believes they will win more than just a few games – they intend to win the national championship.

“The last class to have won a national championship has graduated,” said senior co-captain Scottee Reid, speaking of last year’s graduating class. “This is our personal burden. We are the last to have been in the presence of the champions, hearing from them about this championship-winning Westmont team. And we are the last class to be close enough to feel that winning tradition from the champs. The Westmont we know and the tradition we know is a tradition of winning at nationals. The burden we are feeling is that we need to keep that tradition going and to pass it on. We definitely want to win a national championship and hang that banner in the gym.”