Amidst the festivities for the team's seniors and the final regular season game, there was a soccer game in the middle of it all, as The Master's University women's soccer team took a convincing 5-0 win over Life Pacific at Reese Field in Santa Clarita, Calif. Saturday afternoon.
The Master's employed their relentless offense and shutdown defense, recording 37 shots over Life Pacific's single shot.
But despite the 17 shots the Mustangs recorded in the first half, they would head into the locker room in a 0-0 tie. But the Mustangs would use the final 45 minutes to change that.
More than a minute into the second half, freshman defender Bryanna Elias passed the ball back to graduate student forward Bekah Micu, where she arched the ball into the top right corner of the net to get the first goal of the game.
Roughly two minutes later, Elias sent a corner kick to the front of the net, where freshman Kegan Bunnemann popped the header into the goal to make it 2-0.
Less than a minute after that, Elias sent another corner kick towards the net, finding senior midfielder Kate Merical who tipped the ball past the goalkeeper to record the third Mustangs goal in five minutes.
Seven minutes later, junior forward Sinclair Francescon attempted to cross the ball to senior forward Hannah Kopp, deflecting the ball away from the net and finding junior defender Madison Smith as she fired the ball past the goalkeeper.
With less than 11 minutes left in the game, senior defender Alyssa Luna sent the ball towards the net, where freshman defender Sasha Redshaw popped the ball over the goalkeeper to score the final goal of the game, ending the match at 5-0.
It was all smiles and cheers for the Mustangs and the packed crowd, as the team celebrated Senior Day for senior goalkeeper Jess Furr, senior forwards Mary Mobley, Hannah Kopp, Kate Merical, senior defender Alyssa Luna and graduate student forward Bekah Micu in a pregame ceremony.
And while the Mustangs had a slow start in the first half, their second half heroics were a relief for TMU Head Coach Esteban Chavez, who was all smiles for the last game of the regular season.
"It was 0-0 at halftime." Coach Chavez said. "It does get a little bit nerve racking. But to start off the second half with three goals in the first five minutes, that was a big relief… They took advantage of their opportunities and the way they did that was by having way better decisions on shot selection. We were forcing unrealistic scenarios and this time we were very selective in our shooting moments."
Later Saturday night, Hope International plays Embry-Riddle. If either team wins, The Master's will secure second in the conference standings and host a semifinal match. If the two teams tie, TMU slips to third and will be on the road for the semi.
"It was a must win situation for us, to be able to get a home game next Friday for the playoffs." Coach Chavez said about the win. "We don't control the whole thing but… without a win, we are third and we are traveling… There's a possibility that we'll end up in second… if we get the result from this evening [match] between Embry-Riddle and Hope."
But for now, they will have to wait for the results and prepare for the GSAC Tournament, which will be played on Friday, Nov. 8.
"The best thing for us to work on is how do we defend really well without staying away from attacking. It's if we can balance defending well with attacking well."
