SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Mica Schiavone delivered the game winning goal with just under 40 seconds left to complete Azusa Pacific's fourth period comeback, as the Cougars beat Cal Baptist by a 12-11 score in the fifth-place game of the Golden Coast Conference Tournament. The Cougars finished the season 16-13, and in both of head coach Priscilla Gomez' first two seasons, Azusa Pacific finished with winning records. It is the first time in program history that the Cougars have had back-to-back winning seasons.

Schiavone scored a team-high four goals, while Maria Boix Pascual led the Cougar attack with three goals and three assists. Laia Marsinach Ortega added four more points for the Cougars, tallying two goals and two assists, and she also had two steals on the defensive end of the pool.

How It Happened: A goal just over a minute into the game by Skylar Ford was all the Cougars would get in the opening period, as the Lancers took a 2-1 advantage into the second. The Cougars regained the lead by scoring three of the first four goals in the second to jump on top 4-3, but CBU would score two goals while holding Azusa Pacific scoreless over the final two and a half minutes of the first half. The Lancers would lead 5-4 at the break.

Both teams found the back of the cage four times in the third period, and while the Cougars were able to tie the score at 8-8, CBU was able to retake the lead at 9-8 heading into the final eight minutes of action.

The Lancers would extend the lead over the first two minutes of the fourth, as a pair of goals made it 11-8 with 5:51 on the clock. About 18 seconds later, the Cougar comeback began, as Schiavone buried one into the back of the net to make it 11-9. After three minutes of scoreless action, Montana White delivered a goal that brought the Cougars within a goal at 11-10 with 2:35 to play, and Schiavone then leveled the score at 11-11 with her third goal of the day with 1:57 on the clock. 

The ensuing action consisted of a Lancer shot that was blocked by the Cougar defense, a missed shot by Azusa Pacific, and then a Lancer turnover gave the Cougars the ball back with just under a minute to play. The Cougars capitalized off of the Lancer miscue, as White found Schiavone, who put it past the keeper for the eventual game-winning goal with just 38 seconds to go. The Lancers had a chance to tie, but their shot attempt was saved by Alex Airitam to preserve the lead.

Azusa Pacific's 16 wins this season matches the program's second-most in a single season. The Cougars also broke various program records, including goals scored (360), assists (317), fewest opponent goals (260), and steals (371). While the departures of Skylar Ford, Maria Boix Pascual and Mica Schiavone will be significant ones for Coach Gomez and the Cougars, several key players will be back in the pool next season as Azusa Pacific looks to build off of a record-setting campaign that was 2024.