SPOKANE, Wash. – Madeline Gotta has scored goals before for Gonzaga women's soccer, and she will find the net more times in her collegiate career, but her game-winning goal Friday, will be one to remember. The Zags' junior struck a ball from deep to the top corner of the net to give GU the 2-1 overtime victory against Cal Poly.
Gonzaga (3-1-1) took 30 shots in the first 90 minutes of the game, but the 31
st just into overtime was the winner. The Bulldogs' 31 shots were the most taken since shooting 30 times against CSU Bakersfield on Aug. 22, 2014. GU finished with a 31-14 advantage in shots Friday, placing 11 on goal. Cal Poly had three shots on frame.
The Mustangs' Michaela Olney scored her first goal of the season on a loose ball in the box in the 39
th minute. Olney drove in a ball that was punched out by the Bulldogs' goalkeeper off of a corner from Emily Talmi.
The Zags'
India Jencks moved in the program's Top-10 with her 12
th career goal in the 67
th minute. She scored the equalizer on a pass that slid through the defense, before kicking it low to the far post.
Gabriela Maas and
Maddie Cooley were credited with assists.
Almost three minutes into overtime,
Taylor Kernion passed a ball to
Sophia Viviano, who then kicked a ball back outside the 18-yard box, where Gotta one-timed a strike to the upper-right hand corner of the net. It was the San Diego, Calif. native's fifth-career goal, and first of the season.
Viviano finished with seven shots, while Jencks took five.
Isabel Jones made a pair of saves for the Bulldogs. Sophia Brown stopped eight shots for Cal Poly (0-4-2). MacKenzie George led the Mustangs with four shots.
Gonzaga took eight corner kicks, while Cal Poly finished with seven.
It was the final home non-conference game of the season for the Bulldogs. Gonzaga has not dropped a home game to a non-conference opponent since a 2-0 loss to Oklahoma State on Sept. 13, 2015. Since that loss, the Zags are 10-0-3 against non-conference opponents at Luger Field, with six straight wins.
The Zags travel to Missouri (1-4-1) for the first time in program history Sunday. The Tigers fell at USC Friday, 2-0. Sunday's game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. Pacific Time start. The game will be televised on SEC Network Plus, and have live stats available on GoZags.com.
