MORAGA, Calif. - In their first home conference match of the season, Saint Mary's exploded for an impressive three goal performance to take down LMU and secure their first WCC win of the year. The Gaels scored all three goals in the first half and in style as
Tessa Salvestrin netted her team leading sixth goal of the season from a near improbable angle on the right side of the penalty box.
Savannah Schwarze and
Sydney Middaugh would follow with goals in the 17th and 22nd minute to stun the 7-2 Lions and put together their most impressive team performance of the season.
FIRST HALF SMC 3-0 LMU
Coming into the match, Gaels head coach
Theresa Romagnolo made it clear she wanted to keep the spaces compact and go with a more veteran midfield to counter the dynamic scoring threat from LMU's two target forwards in Jennessa Groves and Kylie Dobbs. Saint Mary's charged right down the field in the opening minutes and generated three shots to establish early pressure. They would eventually be rewarded for that early pressure with a stellar goal from junior forward
Tessa Salvestrin in the 7th minute. Salvestrin would take a long throw into the Lions penalty box and find the head of fellow forward
Sydney Middaugh. Middaugh would head the ball back out towards the top of the box and midfielder
Savannah Schwarze would rifle a pass back out to Salvestrin on the wing for a one-v-one opportunity. She would drive towards the endline and play a firm cross into the box that ended up catching a piece of the cross bar and redirecting straight down into the back of the net.
That would go down as her team leading sixth goal of the season as she stunned the Lions keeper with a goal from a near impossible angle down the right side of the penalty box. Salvestrin's goal would catch the eyes of
SportsCenter later that night and be featured as the seventh best play in SportsCenter's Top-10 segment. She finished the match with a game high five shots, a goal and an assist in her 52 minutes of action.
The early pressure was relentless from the Gaels as they put together their best start to a match this season.
Savannah Schwarze,
Emma Barthel,
Camryn Cruz and
Taylour Mendoza were solid in the midfield and their collective defending really disrupted the Lions offensive flow all afternoon. The Gaels would double their lead just ten minutes later off a beautiful strike from Schwarze for her first goal of the 2024 season. Saint Mary's had a free kick near midfield and center back
Khalia Gathright would send a long ball in towards the top of the box. Schwarze would get up and challenge for the initial header and the loose ball would fall to her feet with a defender on her back. Schwarze showed great poise on the ball and simply made a tight turn to drive towards the penalty box and fire a shot that got up and over the Lions keeper to give the Gaels an early two goal lead. Schwarze has started in all ten games for the Gaels this season and has been a staple in their midfield, putting together one of her best performances of the season.
Just when it seemed like the Gaels couldn't have scripted a better start, they added a third goal in the 22nd minute off a great run from
Sydney Middaugh. Saint Mary's had some nice ball possession up the left side and Salvestrin would collect a pass on the left wing. As the defender stepped to her, Middaugh would make a darting run splitting the center backs and Salvestrin would play the ball over the top and allow Middaugh to fire a one-time finish past the LMU keeper. The timing between the run and the pass was flawless as Middaugh was just a half step onsides. The keeper would come out to contest the shot but Middaugh played it brilliantly first time into the side netting for her second goal of the season.
FINAL SMC 3-1 LMU
"I'm really proud of our team win today", said Romganolo. "That was a great way to get our first conference win. Getting three early goals was huge and I felt like we controlled much of the game with our ball movement and runs off the ball". LMU would get one back in the 76th minute but Saint Mary's truly dominated the game in every phase. They outshot the Lions 16-13 and recorded their third straight game with 15+ shots.
Kate Plachy made her ninth start in goal and was virtually untested all afteernoon. She finished with three saves and made a stellar reaction save in the second half off a deflected shot for her best stop of the match.
Alessandra Towle,
Amari Hicks and
Emmie Ennis played all 90 minutes for the Gaels and were incredibly effective. Hicks and Gathright helped shutdown LMU's 1-2 punch up top and Towle and Ennis got up and down the field making their presence felt defensivley and offensivley.
Camryn Cruz really took control of the midfield in the second half with several lengthy runs to escape pressure and creat chances down the field. She made her fourth start of the year and played a season high 70 minutes.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improves to 4-5-1 overall and picks up their first conference win over LMU to even out their record at 1-1. The Gaels will complete their two-game homestand this Saturday and take on Oregon State at 4:00 PM. Catch all the action on ESPN+ and get your tickets at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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