LMU defeated San Francisco 1-0 on Saturday at Sullivan Field with the WCC regular season title on the line. The Lions scored in the first half and held on the rest of the way to officially win a share of the West Coast Conference Championship.
Taylor Person's goal off
Julia Zawal and
Ane Joergensen's assist supplied the game-winner for the Lions. The teams each finished with 12 shots, while San Francisco put nine on goal to the Lions' six;
JJ Hoover recorded five saves as the Lions posted the shutout.
San Francisco applied pressure from 20:49 to 30:44 with two corners and five shots, but Hoover and the Lions defense kept the score unchanged. The Lions added a three-shot sequence shortly after and saw
Elise Bolanos hit the woodwork late, taking the 1-0 lead into halftime.
The Lions' most meaningful second-half push came soon after the break, when
Mia York,
Sydney Schuler,
Cameron Bourne and
Emma Gustad Myklebust combined for five shots from the 49th to 57th minutes, including Schuler's effort off the woodwork and saves on Bourne and York. Hoover made two saves in the 67th minute as San Francisco tried to answer, and the Lions closed out a scoreless second half for a 1-0 final.
Around the league, Seattle and Denver played to a 1-1 tie, giving Seattle third place in the conference. Pepperdine defeated Saint Mary's 2-1 and will share the WCC title with LMU.
The Lions edge out Pepperdine in the tiebreaker, so they will host the inaugural WCC Tournament as the #1 seed. The Lions will face #4 seed Santa Clara in the semi-finals at 3pm on Wednesday, November 11th.
