The Grand Canyon women's soccer team fell 1-0 to CSU Bakersfield in the regular-season finale Saturday night at GCU Stadium.
With the loss, the Lopes (4-13-1, 3-5-0 WAC) clinched the No. 6 seed in the WAC Tournament and will face Kansas City (12-3-4, 4-2-2) in Wednesday's first round at Seattle U. CSU Bakersfield (9-9-1, 3-5-0) earned the No. 4 seed. GCU eliminated New Mexico State from the tournament thanks to a 2-1 win against the Aggies that started WAC play in October.
The winning goal was scored by CSUB's Eszter Toth in the 28th minute on a point-blank shot after the ball bounced free in front of the goal, where GCU goalkeeper
Lauren Garthwaite and defender
Tyler Ferguson were tangled up.
The Lopes and Roadrunners were able to create offensive chances. GCU held a 10-5 advantage in shots in the second half. Overall, the Lopes outshot CSUB 15-11 and put six shots on goal to the Roadunners' two.
Lopes defenders
Perri Belzer and
Hannah Edwards had good scoring opportunities inside the penalty box in the second half, but their shots were denied by CSUB goalkeeper Andrea Neves, who had six saves.
Belzer and junior forward
Camryn Larson each finished with three shots apiece while redshirt freshman forward
Jaycee Iranshad, junior midfielder
Haley Bostard, and Edwards each had two shots.
The team will turn its attention to a WAC Tournament first-round matchup against Kansas City on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (Phoenix time).
The Lopes defeated the Roos 2-0 at home on Oct. 10 but Kansas City enters the tournament on a four-game winning streak.