CLEAN SHEET
Lopez and Reyes on target as Warriors blank Caltech
By Brandon Petersen
The Westcliff women's soccer team stayed unbeaten with a 2-0 win over Caltech on Tuesday morning at OC Great Park, controlling the match from start to finish.
Amylette Lopez broke through in the 40th minute with an unassisted strike of a rebound, and Andrea Reyes added insurance in the 75th, finishing a feed from Isabella Bottero.
Westcliff outshot Caltech 31-0 and held an 11-0 edge in corners as goalkeepers Edith Antolino and Kayli Cokley split time for the combined clean sheet.
"After the road trip and the travels and having to play back-to-back games and the heat and the altitude, the concern was really how do we get back, how do we manage the bodies on a three-game week again," head coach Jack Gidney said. "So, we rotated very heavily again. We trust the squad again. I think that showed. There were a lot of big players who didn't play minutes today that we got to rest. We're in a luxury because of the depth of talent that we have."
Gidney credited Caltech's defensive approach and said the Warriors were pleased with the chance creation even if the scoreline could have been larger.
"Difficult team to play against… they drop off, they close the spaces, they make the game difficult," Gidney said. "At any level of soccer, breaking down a low block is so hard. I'm disappointed with us not scoring more goals… but I'm pleased that we created those chances to get them off. You'd rather create them repeatably and know that someday it's going to start hitting."
Despite the low scoring output, Westcliff controlled the flow throughout, as Caltech struggled to find opportunities.
"Just one of those days — heavy legs, back on the grind again, back at home, back in rhythm, back in school," Gidney added. "But to win another clean sheet again, using all the bodies, people getting minutes… this team's something else, man. We'll take it and we move again for Friday."
Westcliff (4-0-1) hits the road Friday at Occidental. Kickoff is 5 p.m.
