REDDING, Calif. – Dominican women's soccer tied Simpson 0-0 Saturday evening at California Soccer Park in a physical match.
The Penguins (3-2-1) had more than double the shots and earned five corners but were unable to cash in on the opportunities. The game saw six yellow cards and a late red card with each team earning double-digit fouls. Dominican dug deep into its bench playing 23 players in its final match before PacWest play, while the Red Hawks (2-3-1) played a short bench of 14 players.
Dominican controlled much of the possession early but shots were hard to come by for either team. Dominican had a good look in the 25th minute as a cross into the box found the head of
Shulien Kemmler Liu but the ball went wide of the left post to keep the game scoreless. After the first yellow card of the game,
Jenna Pevenage dropped the free kick in the 30th minute behind the defense to
Carmi Dotario who took a tough angle shot towards the far post but it went wide once again. Simpson's first shot on goal came in the 34th minute but
Natalie Haro easily collected the save going into the half.
The only other shot on goal for the Red Hawks came in the 56th minute as Rachel Sequeira sent it in from near the right sideline but
Michelle Salas Viniegra easily tracked the ball and made a leaping save to keep the combined shutout going.
Megan Clapinski played
Ashlyn Hill into the box with a nice ball and Hill took a left-footed shot but Kiah Gridley closed the angle for Simpson and made a sliding save to prevent a sure goal. Hill had another shot to break the scoreless tie in the 67th minute as a cross into the middle of the box found her all alone but she was unable to generate power on her shot and Gridley made the save.
Emotions ran high down the stretch as the Penguins picked up four yellow cards and Izabella Baez was sent off with a red card, but neither was able to generate much of an opportunity.
Dominican will return home to host Point Loma Nazarene University in its conference opener on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PDT at Kennelly Field.
