Hot play continues for WAC Tournament win

Tuesday, April 13

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

8-8-1, 7-4-1

Chicago State

0-17-0, 0-14-0

Chicago St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Darryl Webb/WAC

4/13/2021 11:03:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU reaches semifinals as Jones, Iranshad each score 2 goals

By: Paul Coro

The uniforms are the same, but the Grand Canyon women's soccer team inside them has changed.

The WAC Tournament is facing a different animal with these Lopes, who are on a seven-game unbeaten streak after dominating Chicago State 5-2 with a tournament-record 35 shots in Tuesday night's first-round win at GCU Stadium.

GCU has outscored opponents 26-5 over the past seven games as it advances to a Thursday semifinal against Seattle U, the team it beat 2-1 on the road to flip a 1-7 start.

"That was when we came together and saw our potential, that we could win the WAC Tournament and that we could beat all the teams," Lopes sophomore forward Raeanne Jones said. "Now, we're hitting our stride and we're in our best form now. Everyone's even more confident."

Raenne Jones

Jones and Jaycee Iranshad, another sophomore forward, each scored two goals with an assist Tuesday with each scoring early to put GCU ahead 2-0 after 14 minutes.

"That was something we really focused on – to try to score early to let our intent be known," Lopes head coach Chris Cissell said.

Scoring in the first two minutes is an ambitious target, but GCU nailed it with eight seconds to spare.

From the field's deep right corner, Iranshad sent a left-footed cross into the box that a Cougars header popped straight up. Jones shielded another Cougars defender to get under the ball and score on a short header.

"It was a bit of an odd goal," Jones said. "I was just waiting for it to come down. I placed it, but Jaycee put a great ball in. How could I not finish?"

Iranshad was rewarded by getting set up 12 minutes later by senior defender Hannah Edwards, who was even with the "G" of the midfield "GCU."

"Oh, this is the perfect time for her to play it over," Iranshad said she thought.

Edwards lofted a 35-yard pinpoint pass to the box, where Iranshad controlled the ball on the fly and scored while falling down for a 2-0 GCU lead.

The back-breaker came three minutes before the end of the first half, one in which the Lopes outshot the Cougars 19-1 by living in the attacking third.

Off an inbound by GCU junior defender Perri Belzer, sophomore defender Tyler Ferguson sent a pass from the right sideline to sophomore forward Dani Babb running into the box from the left side. Babb redirected the ball on goal for her fourth goal of the season and a 3-0 halftime lead.

Jones and Iranshad teamed up again five minutes into the second half, when freshman goalkeeper Jordan Ferguson sent a goal kick upfield and Jones back-headed it toward the goal. Iranshad took the pass with two defenders and a goalkeeper to beat, but beat one defender with a move to the left and rocketed another left-footed blast to the upper left corner of the net for the team's third 4-0 lead in the past five games.

"My coaches keep telling me to dribble because I like to just get the ball and shoot sometimes," Iranshad said. "So I kept dribbling, cut it and hit it left-footed into the net. I may have scored more goals left-footed."

Iranshad's ninth goal of the season set the GCU Division I-era record for goals in a season, passing Milla Benedetti and Maria Monterroso at eight. She has scored six of them in the past 10 games.

Jones has been an even hotter goal-scorer. After a hand ball stopped a would-be goal, Jones scored on a penalty kick for her second goal of the Lopes' second WAC Tournament win in program history. All of Jones' six goals and five assists this season have come in the past seven games.

Jones tore ankle ligaments in her seventh GCU game in October 2019, had reconstructive surgery in May 2020, returned to practice more than a year after the injury and only played 36 minutes in February games. Her in-season surge coincides with the Lopes 7-1-1 run.

"It's been amazing," Cissell said. "It's all about been due to a new belief and confidence in herself and her work rate. Her work rate is tremendous. I think one of my favorite plays of the whole game was when she tracked down right here in front of our bench and went into a huge slide tackle. To see your center forward put in that kind of work rate on the defensive end is fantastic."

Facing Seattle U in a WAC Tournament semifinal comes full circle to that time when Jones became a presence up top, junior Noah Johnson became a starting midfielder and the Lopes changed tactically.

"That's when we started figuring out our team better," Cissell said. "It should be a very interesting game."

Third-seeded GCU (8-8-1) plays second-seeded Seattle U (11-4-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday in GCU Stadium.