MORAGA, Calif. — Senior goalkeeper
Ilise Medrano stopped a penalty kick on her way to a career-high 11 saves Saturday afternoon in San Diego's 1-0 loss at Saint Mary's.
The Toreros held Saint Mary's scoreless until the 70th minute, and Medrano turned away the Gaels' first nine shots on target. Her 11 saves were the most by a Torero this season and three more than her previous career high. The senior's first career start also came against Saint Mary's, nearly three years ago to the day.
Three of her saves came between the 13th and 17th minutes. Amanda Anders and Tamia Graham tested the Saint Mary's defense with back-to-back shots in the 18th minute, and San Diego earned its first corner moments later. Medrano added saves in the 24th and 27th minutes to keep it scoreless at the break.
With the match still 0-0, Saint Mary's went to the penalty spot in the 52nd minute. Medrano saved it, starting a run of four saves, two of them nine seconds apart.
The Gaels broke through in the 70th minute for the only goal of the afternoon. Medrano kept San Diego within one with saves in the 79th and 80th minutes. Maquena O'Callaghan then forced a save with a low shot in the 85th, and the Toreros won a corner in the 88th as they pushed for an equalizer. The Toreros also blocked six Saint Mary's shots.
"Thought we had a solid game plan coming in," head coach
Greg LaPorte said, "and defensively we did a lot of things well against a very good Saint Mary's team. Ilise came up with a huge penalty kick save to keep us in the game. Ultimately, we just weren't clean enough in possession. We gave the ball away too easily and too often, which made it difficult to build any attacking rhythm. In a game with such small margins, you have to take better care of the ball, and today we didn't. It's frustrating because I felt this was a game where we could have gotten a result."
UP NEXT
San Diego returns home to host Portland on Saturday, Oct. 24, for a 7 p.m. match at Torero Stadium. The match streams on ESPN+.
Â
