VALLEJO, CA- The Soka University Lions scored eight goals to secure their first Cal Pac Conference win of the season against the Cal Maritime Keelhaulers on Sunday afternoon at Bodnar Field.

Eight different Lions scored goals, six of which tallied their first goals of the season for Soka. Among those netting their first goal was Samantha Barrera, who also scored the Lions' first goal of the match in the 20th minute off of an assist from Jianna West.

Eight Minutes later, Ashley Aaranda scored her first 2023 season goal after receiving a pass from Sabrina Benjamin to give Soka an early 2-0 lead. With less than ten minutes passing by, the Lions' Kamry Aragon converted her first goal of the year off a ball played by Kyra Dibenedetto towards the pk spot, where Aragon collected the ball into space and drove her shot high into the goal.

Soka's Abby Stallworth closed out the first half with a solo-effort finish to earn her first goal of the year and to give the Lions the 4-0 lead going into halftime.

Benjamin scored the Lions' fifth goal off of an Aragon assist in the 54th minute of play, while Dibenedetto added a goal to her stats thanks to a Stallworth assist. Taylor Hampton also finished her first goal of the year after receiving the ball from Nicole Salazar, and Ashley Fujimori added one final goal to the scoreboard with the assist credited to Alex Bershtein to give the Lions the 8-0 victory.

Benjamin now leads the Lions in points with seven (3 goals, 1 assist). Fujimori (3 goals) is next on the list, having six points so far on the season, and Aragon (1 goal, 2 assists) holds the third-highest point total for Soka with four.

"The best thing about our win today was that all of our goals were scored by a different player," said Head Coach Wendy Espejel. "All players worked cohesively and elevated each other during the game, it was fun to watch." 

Next, the Lions will return home to host a non-conference match against Vanguard University on Wednesday, September 20, 2023. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.


NOTES: The Lions outshot the Keelhaulers 33-1… Soka put 18 of their shots on goal… Lillian Dukes made one save on the day.