RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The NAIA's No. 4-ranked Azusa Pacific scored 5 goals in less than 15 minutes midway through the opening half, cruising to an 8-0 win over Menlo Friday afternoon at the California Baptist University Tournament in Riverside. Two players led the way with 2 goals apiece, and it was the first scoring tally of the season for all 6 of the Cougar goalscorers.

Junior Kelsey Walker scored just over 4-and-a-half minutes into the game, cleaning up a rebound in front of the Menlo goal for her first collegiate score. Just a minute later, senior forward Theresa Broad hit the crossbar, the first of 11 consecutive missed shots over the next 18 minutes before freshman Natalie Sun converted to the far post in the 24th minute to give Azusa Pacific a 2-0 lead. Sun was making her first collegiate start, and she found the back of the net just 2 minutes and 20 seconds later to push the lead to 3-0.

Sun's back-to-back goals were the first 2 of 5 first-half goals in a 13:51 span. Senior Hayley Gustafson headed in a cross to register her first career goal in the 29th minute, and freshman Heidi Witschi joined the Cougar first-time scoring club with an unassisted goal on the open net just past the 32-minute mark. In the 38th minute, sophomore Brittany Flanagan finished off a give-and-go with Witschi for a score that pushed the margin to 6-0 heading into halftime. Witschi added a second-half scoring strike that rounded out the game's scoring, joining Sun as the only multiple-goal scorers in the game.

In the opening half alone, Azusa Pacific fired 26 shots at Menlo's net, without surrendering a single shot at its own frame. With a second-half shots advantage of 12-2, the Cougars out-shot the Oaks by a 38-2 margin.

Senior Mandi Morrow took 2 shots in the opening 5 minutes of the second half, then put away her third strike in the 52nd minute to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead. Witschi added the final score of the contest in the 63rd minute, scoring off 1 of Azusa Pacific's 8 corner kicks.

Sun, Witschi, and Flanagan each contributed to 3 goals, with Flanagan picking up assists on 2 first-half goals before scoring late in the opening period.

The victory was Azusa Pacific's sixth single-game outburst of 8 or more goals in the past 3 seasons, and it was the second straight opponent from the NAIA's California Pacific Athletic Conference to surrender at least 8 goals to a Cougar squad. In last year's NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship Opening Round contest in Azusa, the Cougars tied the NAIA Tournament single-match scoring record with a 10-1 verdict over 2008 CalPac champion William Jessup University.

Azusa Pacific is now 2-1 on the season heading into tomorrow's 1 p.m. contest against Trinity International (Ill.) University that continues the 2-day CBU Tournament in Riverside. California Baptist handed Trinity International a 6-1 defeat in Friday's late-afternoon tilt.

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