Box Score

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Junior midfielder Brianna Brown scored the game-winning goal with 58 seconds on the scoreboard to propel the Whitman College women's soccer team to a 2-1 non-conference victory over Whittier (Calif.) College at the 2014 Slugfest Tournament hosted by the University of California Santa Cruz.

Whitman (2-1) dominated possession throughout the game, racking up 23 shots to just five attempts from Whittier (1-2). Poets goalkeeper Alexi Cruz kept her team in the game with seven saves before Brown's buzzer-beating marker.

The Missionaries got off the first shot of the game, saved by Cruz, followed shortly by a Whittier shot which Whitman goalie Haley Case was forced to come up with. The only shots over the remainder of the opening 45 minutes came off the feet of the Missionaries.

First year player Alissa Soo was in the right place at the right time midway through the period for Whitman when she scored on an easy putback off an uncontrolled save by Cruz. Clara Merlino had snapped off a shot which Cruz saved but allowed to escape her grasp and Soo was the beneficiary of the loose ball, tapping it across the goal line at the 34:07 mark for her first collegiate goal.

The 1-0 advantage carried over into the second half with Whitman continuing to rule possession but a little more than 20 minutes into the period the Poets were able to find the equalizer on a play similar to Soo's goal. Kaily Reisfelt put a shot on frame which Whitman's Case was able to stop but not control and this time it was the Poets' Madison Shipherd who scored the putback goal, knotting the game at one in the 68th minute.

Whittier wasn't able to get another shot off over the rest of the game but was clinging to the tie behind a pair of saves from Cruz and one more Whitman shot that sailed wide of the frame. A pressing attack resulted in an ill-timed offside call against the Missionaries in the 88th but they were able to regain possession and turn on the attack quickly. Kelsey Peck and Soo tic-tac-toed passes to Brown who netted the game-winner as the game clock ticked into its final minute.

Case finished with a pair of saves in the well-deserved Whitman victory. Despite her seven saves Cruz suffered the loss between the pipes for Whittier.

Whitman continues action in the Slugfest on Monday, Sept. 8 with a 1 p.m. match-up against the Cal Lutheran University Regals.