SPOKANE, Wash. – No. 19 Gonzaga women's soccer scored a goal in the final minute to finish with a 1-1 draw against Loyola Marymount Wednesday.
The Zags (12-3-2, 5-1-1 West Coast Conference) will play for the conference title at Pepperdine (9-3-5, 6-1-0 WCC) Saturday. GU will need a win over the Waves to claim the program's first-ever conference title and the league's automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA Tournament.
Wednesday,
Kelsey Oyler found the back of the net in the 90
th minute to even the score against the Lions (6-9-3, 0-4-3). Her first goal of the season came off
Emelia Warta's second assist.
The Bulldogs struck woodwork five times in the match, four in the first half, and had multiple other scoring chances. Gonzaga finished with a 30-3 advantage in shots, with an 8-1 edge in shots on goal. It's the first time the Zags recorded 30 shots since having 30 in a 1-0 win at Arizona in 2021.
Loyola Marymount's Jennessa Groves scored her fourth goal of the season in the 21
st minute with assists from Gabriella Marchal and Megan Rucker.
Gonzaga took all nine corner kicks in the match and had 64 percent of the possession in the match.
Maddie Kemp took a match-high seven shots for GU. The Lions' Ellie Sommers made seven saves.
Gonzaga's regular season finale will be for the West Coast Conference title for the first-time in program history. Pepperdine won at San Francisco Wednesday, 4-0. The Bulldogs will have to beat Pepperdine to earn the WCC title. The game scheduled for 12 p.m., will be broadcast on ESPN Plus, with live stats on GoZags.com.
