WHITTIER, Calif. (Oct. 5, 2024) – The Whittier College women's soccer team, fronted by junior goalkeeper
Mya Rodriguez (Visalia, Calif. / El Diamante), held defending national champions California Lutheran University, the No. 14 team in the nation, scoreless through the first 60 minutes of Wednesday night's road contest.
The Poets have taken on the role of a defensive team this season with clean sheets in more than half of played games this season. That theme continued on Wednesday with a defense led by junior
Emma Tumbarello (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. / Rancho Cucamonga) doing well to the Regals' scoring opportunities. As a result, Rodriguez managed to come up with seven saves in net as her side came dangerously close to stealing a point from the Regals on the road in what quickly became a physical affair by both teams' standards.
Offensively, the Poets found it tough sledding against Cal Lutheran, one of the top defensive teams in the nation in its own right. However, senior midfielder
Juliana Hodgson (Fullerton, Calif. / Sunny Hills), this week's SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Week, stayed hot in terms of generating offensive opportunities. Out of four Whittier shots on goal, Hodgson had three of them, with the other belonging to senior forward
Elizabeth Roybal (West Covina, Calif. / South Hills). Roybal also added an additional three shots that just missed the target and otherwise would have given Whittier the equalizer it needed.
Head Coach
Derek Hanks and the Poets will return to Memorial Stadium for Senior Night, slated for Saturday, Oct. 12 against Chapman University.
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