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Lions Score Early and Often to Beat Cal State Bakersfield 3-0
Sept. 27, 2009
Click here to listen to Coach Mallia's postmatch quotes. Los Angeles - LMU scored three goals in the first 25 mnutes and held yet another opponent scoreless at home, blanking Cal State Bakersfield 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Sullivan Field. The Lions (7-3-1) run their home shutout streak to six games dating back to last season and are unbeaten in their last four matches while improving to 2-0 all-time against the Roadrunners (4-7-0). In their final home game before conference play starts, the Lions got a goal and an assist each from juniors Julie Gallaudet and Kelley Lawson, as well as sophomore Erin Rementer's team-leading fifth goal of the season to see off the Roadrunners. The performance was a total team effort, as the Lions played 23 players on the day. LMU looked to get off to an early start and that's exactly what it got with Gallaudet's opener within the first minute. LMU took the opening kick-off and marched into Roadrunner territory to win a corner. Lawson swung in the corner from the left side to freshman Cori McGovern, who rose up above everyone but her powerful header came back off the post. Gallaudet was the first to react, one-timing her rebound from within the six-yard box for her second goal of the season, just 45 seconds into the match. LMU's speed up front in Gallaudet, Lawson, and Rementer wreaked havoc on Bakersfield's defense all day. It was that speed from Rementer that put the Lions up 2-0 in the 11th minute. Taking on the defense by herself, she beat two defenders and stung a shot that was parried by CSUB goalkeeper Kym Gause. The rebound came straight to Rementer, who slotted home into an empty net for her fifth goal of the season and seventh of her career. The Lions seemed poised to score on every offensive foray and the Gallaudet-Lawson connection led to LMU's third in the 25th minute. Gallaudet outpaced the defense down the left side and crossed into the box, where Lawson was waiting to direct her header past Gause into the lower right corner. The goal was Lawson's second of the season while Gallaudet continues to play supplier, providing her West Coast Conference-leading sixth assist on the year. The six assists moves her into a tie for fifth on the LMU single-season list while she also moves up into a tie for eighth on the career list with 10. That would be the extent of the scoring on the day as LMU was able to empty its bench and get playing time for a number of players. Among those was redshirt sophomore Katie Beaulieu, who entered the game in the 78th minute to record her first game action of her career. Beaulieu was not reequired to make a save and combined with senior Allyssa Clark, who made two saves, for the shutout. LMU out-shot the Roadrunners 10-2 in the first half and 11-6 overall for its seventh game of double-digit shots this season. Gause made four saves for CSUB. For the second straight year, LMU is undefeated in its first five home games of the year. The Lions opened the 2008 campaign with three wins and two ties en route to a 6-1-2 home mark. The final win of 2008 was a 2-0 shutout of Saint Mary's that started the current streak of six consecutive home shutouts. It is the longest home shutout streak to start the season in school history, topping the previous record of three, set in 2002 and 2003. LMU last had six straight home shutouts in the 1998 season. LMU takes it slow over the next two weeks, playing only two games between now and October 16. Next week, LMU travels to Arizona on Friday at 7 p.m. for the non-conference finale. The Lions then open WCC play on Friday, October 11 at Pepperdine.
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