Warriors drop match to #1 Keiser - NAIA Opening Round

Westcliff Women's Soccer made the trip to the NAIA National Championship heading all the way from coast to coast West Palm Beach, Florida.

Westcliff after a very hard day of travel prepared to face #1 Keiser.

The match started off slow but quickly turned opening goal of the contest from #24 Angelina Espinal in the opening minutes off of a error from the keeper. Westcliff were on the board first.

Keiser were very shocked. The rest of the half saw the Seahawks try their best to find a goal. After a penalty kick was awarded to Keiser. The Seahawks tied the match at 1 a piece going into halftime.

Westcliff started the 2nd half wanting to quickly generate some offensive shots on goal. Kanestrom was able to take a shot on frame but went just wide of the net in the opening minutes. Warriors fought for each and every possession. Player of the Match Ana Martinez Moreno was putting in work in the net grabbing a season high and program best 11 saves against the #1 team in the nation.
Keiser was finally able to crack the tough warrior defense to go up 2-1 in the final 18 minutes of the match. The Seahawks a few minutes later made it 3-1. As the final whistle blew, Westcliff season came to an end. It was a somber feeling knowing that our graduating seniors will be home to bigger and better things. But for Head Coach Jack Gidney and the rest of the coaching staff it was the start of the beginning.

This Warrior team made history in the program claiming the Cal Pac Conference Championship. Making it to their 1st NAIA National Tournament Appearance. Here are some of words of wisdom that Head Coach Jack Gidney said about his team.

Coaches' Notes

"Incredible to be here at the NAIA National Tournament. Long way for us to come, bodies are tired but they gave absolutely everything. What a wonderful team at the start of the year this was the goal to make it to the National tournament. We done it, We are Conference Champions. They exceeded all our expectations this season. If you look at our starting lineup today we had only 2 seniors out on the pitch. We will have a lot of the returning team back for next season."

Westcliff Women's Soccer finish their historic 2022 season with 12-5-2, 9-3 in conference and Cal Pac Tournament Champions.