ATHERTON, Calif. – Dominican women's soccer took a 1-0 victory over Menlo on Saturday afternoon at Wunderlich Field in a non-conference matchup between the PacWest foes.

Angelina Hert made the start for the Penguins (5-1-5) and collected four saves before being pulled after a collision in the 78th minute as she moved to 3-1-1 on the year. Shulien Kemmler Liu notched her first goal of the season with Megan Clapinski collecting her first assist. The Oaks (2-5-2) made a furious comeback attempt late with eight second half shots but could never solve the Dominican defense.

After trading a pair of shots early on, it was the Penguins that found the first good chance as Araceli Mejia saved a ball from going out and pushed it down the right sideline where Megan Clapinski chased it down and crossed it into the box for a charging Kemmler Liu who put it high into the back netting for the 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. In the 21st minute, Clapinski had another good look at the goal as she aimed towards the lower right corner, but Lily Roberts made the save.

Dominican's defense kept Menlo without a shot for 30 minutes until Haley Dunham redirected a pass with her back heel towards the net but Angelina Hert gathered it in for the save to take the lead into the break. Dominican kept pressure up to start the second half with several shots but the Oaks defense made sure they came from distance to keep the game close. Menlo had a good look in the 61st minute off a corner kick with Taryn Thalhammer got her head to the ball with Hert right there to make the save. 

The Oaks cleared a Penguin corner kick in the 70th minute but right to Felicity Muro who put the ball back in towards the net and it took a high hop forcing Roberts to push the ball over the crossbar to keep the game close. Allison Canchola took a shot at the equalizer from distance in the 74th minute going high middle with Hert punching the ball over her crossbar to make her fourth save of the day. It looked like Menlo had tied the game briefly in the 81st minute but the flag went up for offside. Kemmler Liu looked to add to her goal tally in one minute later as she went back post on a shot from the middle of the box but Roberts made the save. 

Dominican will return to the pitch Tuesday as it travels south to face UC Santa Cruz at 4 p.m. PDT at the UCSC Soccer Complex.