ALISO VIEJO, CA- Soka defeated the Golden Eagles of La Sierra University 3-2 in Sunday night's barnburner at the Lions' Den Soccer Stadium.

The Lions came out of the gates strong, scoring their first goal at the 1:33 second mark. The goal stemmed from a string of passes ending with Taylor Hampton connecting with Roxana Ortiz outside the 18-yard box. Ortiz slipped her pass through to Samantha Barrera, who finished her shot low for the early lead. 

Soka maintained much of the possession, swinging the ball from side to side and finding pockets to advance throughout the first half of play and created several additional scoring opportunities but were unable to convert. 

The Golden Eagles took the halftime break to recuperate and tallied the equalizer in the 62^nd minute and the go-ahead goal in the 77^th minute of play.

The Lions responded immediately, scoring less than a minute later. Hampton threaded her pass to Kaitlyn Sagastume on the left flank, who served her cross into Abby Stallworth. Stallworth collected the ball out of the air and finished her volley into the left side of the net to level the score.

Soka's Sasha Brafman made several vital saves in the following ten minutes to keep her side in the game, and the Lions' momentum continued to build. With less than four minutes remaining on the clock, Soka earned a corner kick. Alex Bershtein hit a deep service into the box, and Roxana Ortiz got on the end of it, finishing first-time, and scoring the game-winner at the 86:49-minute mark.

"It was a well-deserved win today," said Head Coach Wendy Espejel. "We started the game with great decision-making and confidence on the ball, and the early goal helped us settle in even more. Every player was so checked into the game, and I applaud the team for their fight and response with even higher energy as the game went on."

Next, the Lions travel to Mesa, AZ, to face the Redhawks of Benedictine University Mesa on Thursday, October 20th. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. 
 



Game Notes: The Lions are now 3-9-2, and 3-5-1 in Cal Pac Conference play… La Sierra outshot Soka 17-14… Sasha Brafman made nine saves on the day… a yellow card was shown to La Sierra's Iris Navarro.