The Dominican women's soccer team extended their unbeaten streak to four in dominating fashion as they skipped past the Academy of Art on Sunday, earning a 2-0 victory.
 
"Sometimes stats don't tell the whole story, but today I think they did," head coach Kelly Coffey said. "That's a good team, they finished ahead of us in the standings last season, and they returned a lot of players. It was a good win today."
 
Shots came early and often for the Penguins, notching six shots in the opening minutes to keep Lara Pflicke busy in the Urban Knights goal. Dominican would send five more shots to the Urban Knights goal before the end of the opening frame, but Pflicke stood tall as she took a clean sheet into the half. 
 
A goalie substitution was made by the Academy of Art to start the second half, sending Nicole Peoples to guard the net in place of Pflicke. Dominican tested Peoples almost immediately as Abigail Gould sent a shot towards the lower-90 of the goal just 1:30 into the half, but Peoples made the stop. Peoples would be tested again just 35 seconds after, this time by Claire Brown as she watched her shot narrowly miss the right side of the target. Aiden Marquez connected on a shot 61 seconds after Brown's strike, but Peoples would again be up to the task as she made her second save in less than two minutes. 
 
"Finishing is a lost art, that's why pro goal scorers are paid the most — it's one of the hardest things to do," coach Coffey said. "We weren't good at scoring last fall and we're still honing our craft. We worked a lot on it this week, and today our chances were much better. Their goalies did a fantastic job today. We made their goalkeepers make a lot of saves, they had to work hard today."
 
Dominican was finally able to break through in the 56^th minute when Sofia Odron sent a through-ball to Tanya Bills who hesitated before sending a shot off the right post and into the back of the net. This goal marked the first time that Bills has found the back of the net this season, giving Dominican the hard-earned one-goal lead. 
 
"I was banking on getting it on my right foot, but the girl stepped in front of me, so I switched gears and passed it to my left," Bills said. "Kelly (Coffey) has been telling us to shoot all week, so I shot the ball and got the goal."
 
Dominican doubled its lead in the 76^th minute when Claire Brown was sent into the box to take a Penguin penalty kick. Brown confidently found the back of the net to also tally her first goal of the season, sealing the 2-0 victory for the Penguins. 
 
"I always go through my whole routine — how I place the ball on the field, how many steps I take and looking to where I am going to place the ball. I stuck to my routine and let everything that I have done in practice take over," Brown said. "It felt super good to score since I missed my sophomore season due to injury. It feels like I'm back now."
 
Dominican finished the game with an 18-1 total shot advantage, forcing the Urban Knights keepers to make eight saves on 10 shots that found the target. Dominican also dominated in corner kicks, earning a 6-0 advantage over the Academy of Art. 
 
Dominican will now bring its 4-0 record back to Kennelly field this Friday as it looks to extend its winning streak against Fresno Pacific at 2:30 p.m. PST.