LA JOLLA, Calif. – In a rematch of last year’s NCAA West Regional semifinal, No. 5 seed Point Loma recorded a historic 1-0 victory over No. 1 seed UC San Diego on Saturday with the lone goal coming from Chase Bibbey, who was making the first start of her career.
 
The Sea Lions (14-4-2) avenged a 3-2 loss to UC San Diego in the same round last year, becoming the first team to defeat the Tritons (16-2-1) on their home field since September 11, 2016. Point Loma also became the first PacWest women’s soccer team to win two NCAA postseason matches in the same year, doing so after being unranked by the NCAA Regional Rankings just three weeks ago.
 
Point Loma will face the winner of No. 3 seed Western Washington and No. 7 Cal State LA, who will play each other on Sunday. If Cal State LA wins, the Sea Lions might get the chance to play the third and fourth round matches on its home pitch. If Western Washington wins, Point Loma will travel to Bellingham, Washington, for the regional final on December 5.
 
“It’s a big obstacle,” head coach Kristi Kiely said about being the first team to win at UC San Diego since 2016. “They are a top team in NCAA Division II. That’s certainly fun to be able to do, but we are excited to be able to just keep playing.”
 
Bibbey scored the game’s only goal in the 29th minute when a free kick was sent into the box. UC San Diego mishandled the ball and Bibbey was the first to jump on a loose ball. She turned and fired from five yards away into the right side of the net for a timely first career goal. That put Point Loma in a familiar position after going ahead by as much as two goals the previous year against UC San Diego.
 
“We knew it was going to be a battle, and after last year, we were all still feeling the sting of going up 2-0 and losing 3-2,” Hinson said. “We all decided that we didn’t want to feel that again, and we wanted to keep playing. We’re really glad we got it done.”
 
With over half the game left to play, Point Loma spent much of the rest of the match holding off wave after wave of offensive attacks from the Triton forwards. The Sea Lions created a handful of scoring opportunities and even put three shots on goal in the second half, but UC San Diego controlled the ball for most of the game following Point Loma’s goal.
 
The Sea Lions’ defense snuffed out quickly most opportunities when UC San Diego got into their quarter of the field. The Tritons took eight shots in the second half, but sophomore goalkeeper Emma Hinson was invincible, making a total of six saves in Point Loma’s eighth shutout victory this season. Point Loma has now allowed just two goals in its last eight matches.
 
With just under three minutes left in the game, Point Loma’s defense had prevented UC San Diego from taking a shot in the previous 15 minutes despite the Tritons pushing the ball forward constantly. However, the Tritons did get a scoring opportunity and even found the back of the net, but the sideline ref raised the flag for an offsides. The Tritons got one more shot off before the horn sounded, but it was off target.
 
Point Loma has now gone unbeaten in 13-consecutive matches, knocking off a team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation, while the Sea Lions’ record was 3-4-0 at the time.
 
“I think this is a testament to who we are as a team,” Hinson said. “We struggled at the beginning early in the season. We’ve been working in the back line on being and playing as a unit. I think we did a great job today of communicating and keeping everything in front of us.”