SPOKANE, WA--Over 950 miles of travel and twenty hours on the road would not stop UCSC Women's Soccer from going the full-distance in their D3 season opener vs. the host team of the Whitworth Classic on Friday in Spokane, WA. Despite 13 corner kicks and 17 shots taken versus Whitworth's 5 corner kicks and 11 shots, the Banana Slugs struggled to notch a goal versus Whitworth's Andrea Stump. Stump made life difficult for the Slugs the entire match, getting to every loose ball in the box and cleaning up several crosses and corner kicks for the hosting Pirates. One of the best looks for the Slugs came from sophomore winger Taylor Keenan whose second half effort hit the crossbar and dropped straight down to Whitworth's Stump. Junior Rika Goto would also graze the crossbar in her corner kick service in the closing seconds of double overtime to bring the match to an unsatisfying end for the Slugs after a scoreless 110 minutes. Despite the score, the match was well-fought and an exciting look at things to come this season.

The next day, the Slugs took to the pitch again, this time on the Omanche Field at Whitworth playing Walla Walla's Whitman College. The Whitman Missionaries came out strong, confident after a 1-0 defeat of St. Benedict College (MN) the day prior in their first match of the Whitworth Classic. Whitman's sophomore midfielder Lena de Guzman wasted no time and blasted a perfect shot low and hard to the left far post from the top of the 18 yard box to get Whitman on the board early in the first ten minutes. The Santa Cruz Banana Slugs answered back, however, less than ten minutes later when junior midfielder Olivia Dobbs floated a chip into the box to find senior forward Sarah Sadler running on. Sadler converted 1v1 against Whitman's goalkeeper, lifting her shot up and over the keeper's outstretched hands, sending the ball into the back of the net for the Slug's first D3 goal on the season. The game winning goal for the Slugs went to sophomore winger Taylor Keenan shortly after in the first half, when the cross she drove near post found its way into the net after being mishandled by the Whitman goalkeeper. The Slugs went into the second half 2-1 and the score remained at the final whistle, having held off a feisty and talented Whitman squad that gave the Slugs problems despite having a small roster on the weekend.

UC Santa Cruz closed the Whitworth Classic with the best team record on the weekend, going undefeated 1-0-1. They conclude their match-up of games in the Northwest when they take on Lewis & Clark College on Whitworth's game field this Monday 9/1 at 2:30pm. The Slugs will finally be back home to kick-off the 6-team Slugfest tournament versus SCIAC rival Chapman at 10am on Friday 9/5.