The Cal State Stanislaus women’s soccer team continued its dominance on Sunday. This time, it was over Cal State Monterey Bay, as the 13th-ranked Warriors defeated the Otters 2-0.
Karenee Demery and Marissa Dunaway scored goals to lead the Warriors to a strong offensive second half, as they improved to 5-1-2 overall and 4-1-1 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The victory is the Warrior's 17th over Monterey Bay in the last 18 meetings. In conference play, they are also 14-1 against the Otters, who fell to 2-5 overall and 1-5 in the CCAA.
“It is hard to win on the road in this conference,” Stanislaus coach Gabriel Bolton said. “We played a fantastic second half. We just settled down and played our style of soccer.”
After an offensive stalemate in the first half, the Warriors got on the attack quickly. A Dunaway shot 45 seconds into the second half went wide, but that attempt opened up the Stanislaus attack.
In the 49th minute, Demery, an All-American forward, got Stanislaus on the board after getting a long through ball from Alexia Poon to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. It was Demery's third goal and Poon’s third assist this season.
Demery then picked up her team-leading sixth assist on the second score, when she sent a nice cross deep into the box in front of the goalkeeper and Dunaway kicked it in for her second goal of the season in the 63rd minute.
Then it became a match of defending and possessing for the Warriors. The Stanislaus defense locked in and turned away the Otters’ chances, including two saves by Millie Brown in the final 5 minutes. Brown picked up four saves.
"Our back four unit was fantastic today,” Bolton said. “They don't get enough credit for the work they do. It was great to post a shutout.” Alisa Barlow and Apryl Whitney “really controlled the midfield. That was great to see because it’s been a focus for us."
Bolton was referring to the play of defenders Emily Relles, Vanessa Cervantes, Sierra Casas and Lauren Thorton, who all helped the Warriors to the shutout.
The Warriors outshot CSUMB 12-8, with nine of the shots coming in the second half.