AZUSA, CALIF -- GSAC Player of the Year Jennifer Babel made amends for a mistake that nearly cost Azusa Pacific's its season by scoring the game-winning goal in the 87th minute to lead the NAIA's No. 2-ranked Cougars to a 2-1 victory over No. 7-ranked Westmont in the championship game of the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) Women's Soccer Postseason Tournament Saturday afternoon.
With the victory the Cougars now host the NAIA Far West Regional Championship game on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. in Azusa.
The Cougars controlled play throughout most of the game after assuming a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute when All-American Kendra Payne rifled a Janay Duran lead pass by Westmont goal keeper Kristen St. Clair. However, when Babel was unable to clear the ball, she fouled Westmont's Romana Triliegi just inside the box, setting up a penalty kick for the Warriors. All-American Katie Gardinier made good on the opportunity, knotting the score at 1-1 in the 83rd minute.
Four minutes later Payne took a Rachel Messick breakaway pass and was fouled in the box by Angela Crowell. Babel took the penalty kick and slipped it past St. Clair for the game-winner in the 87th minute.
"I thought the first call was a bad call on me," said Babel. "But a penalty kick came our way and there was my opportunity. I gave them one, now I thought I'd take mine. I wasn't thinking about the perfect season, the playoffs or anything like that. I just concentrated on putting the ball in the back of the net."
With the victory Azusa Pacific improves to 20-0 on the season and is just 1 of 3 undefeated teams left in the NAIA. Westmont falls to 14-4-1 but can still receive an at-large bid to the NAIA Tournament, which will be held in Mobile, Ala., Nov. 23-28.
"I like our chances," said Westmont coach Mike Giuliano. "Between Mobile, Simon Fraser, Berry and Lindenwood, we need at least 2 of those teams to win their regional. If so, then we get an at-large bid."
"We dribbled too much in the second half," said Cougar coach Christian Johnson. "They played with a sense of urgency to score and we played to keep the ball out of our end. We were not playing our game."
The stats on the game were nearly identical. Azusa Pacific out-shot the Warriors, 7-6, and had 5 corner kicks to the Warriors' 3.
"Today the better team won," added Giuliano. "I believe that (Azusa Pacific) is the best team in the nation, and I'm encouraged that we played them to within 1 goals in both games this season."
Scoring by Periods
Westmont 0 1 -- 1
Azusa Pacific 1 1 -- 2
GOALS: Payne & Bable (APU)
Gardinier (WC)
ASSISTS: Duran (APU)
SAVES: Yanos (APU) 3, St. Clair (WC) 3
SHOTS: APU 7, WC 6
FOULS: APU 14, WC 15
CORNER KICKS: APU 5, WC 3
