Box Score SPOKANE, Wash. –
Clara Merlino scored early in second-half action and a solid defensive effort over the final 32 minutes of the second half led Whitman College's women's soccer team to a season-opening 1-0 victory over the College of St. Benedict (Minn.) Friday afternoon on Omache Field at the Whitworth Classic.
Merlino's game-winner came in the 53rd minute to break a scoreless tie and provide Whitman (1-0) with a lead it would maintain over St. Benedict (0-1) despite the Blazers getting off six shots between the 58-minute mark and the final horn.
St. Benedict got off the opening shot of the game, a shot that sailed wide of the goal, in the third minute of action. Whitman's
Brianna Brown finally recorded the game's second shot 10 minutes later, a scoring chance that was stopped by CSB goalkeeper Heather Kaluzniak.
Whitman goalie
Haley Case, making only her second career start, was forced to make a save one minute later but from that point forward the action was tilted in the Missionaries' favor as they reeled off the next seven shots. Kaluzniak kept Whitman off the scoreboard by registering saves on five of those seven shots before her teammates were able to break the string with a shot over the Whitman crossbar as time expired in the first half.
The Blazers made a goalie change to start the second half and perhaps the cold start for Megan Favorite contributed to her victimization by Merlino on the first shot of the second half. Gaining possession in the middle of the box, Merlino was able to gain the turn on a CSB defender and get off a shot to beat Favorite at the 52:31 mark.
Case came up big for Whitman less than six minutes later as she stopped a potentially equalizing shot from St. Benedict's Megan Lenz to keep the Missionaries ahead.
Lena de Guzman's shot in the 61st was blocked by a Blazer defender but CSB seemed to gain the better of play for most of the remainder of the half.
Sandwiched around a Favorite save of a shot from Whitman's Brown in the 79th were several scoring opportunities for the Blazers. Libby Nelson's shot in the 78th was blocked, but not cleared, by a Whitman defender and 15 seconds later St. Benedict's Kelsey Tatarek put a shot on frame which was stopped by a Missionary defender. In the opening seconds of the 86th Gracie Vaughan's shot was blocked by a Whittie defender over the end line providing the Blazers with a corner kick opportunity. That chance evolved into a shot, high, from Jess Trossen.
Drama continued in the exciting opener as Tatarek put a shot on frame in the 88th but Case was there for the win-preserving stop, thwarting the final threat to allow the Missionaries to escape with the narrow victory.
Both teams jump back into action Saturday afternoon as Whitman takes on UC Santa Cruz at noon on Omache Field while at the same time host Whitworth entertains St. Benedict on the Whitworth Soccer Field.
