SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --- Linfield women's soccer kicked off the 2025 season on Friday afternoon in central California, taking on the host, University of California-Santa Cruz, in the first of two games outside of the bay area. The 'Cats earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw against the reigning Coast to Coast Conference Champion Banana Slugs.
The Slugs fired the first shot of the game just three-minutes in, missing the target wide. Senior
Ruby Lacktrup responded shortly after with the 'Cats first shot of the game, sailing wide left of of the mark.
The two squads traded the first two shots on-goal of the game in the 17
th and 20
th minutes, both earning the first saves of the season for each goalkeeper. Junior keeper
Alexa Fritz remained steady in goal throughout the first 45-minutes, making a crucial save at the end of the half to keep the match scoreless.
Fritz notched another save to open the second half of play, which would hold as the only shot for the first 30-minutes of the half. The Wildcat goalkeeper recorded a flurry of saves late in the match, all of which proving to be low-percentage attempts by the Slugs.
With both defenses standing tall,
Jocelyn Jacobs and
Amalia Tufts picked up yellow cards in the second half, showing the physicality that Linfield brought to the pitch in the season opener. The match ended scoreless after 90-minutes, earning Linfield draw against a team with NCAA Tournament appearance on their home turf.
The Slugs outshot the 'Cats 11-3 and 7-1 in shots on-target, while Fritz's shutout comes with seven saves. Lacktrup's one shot was matched by
Sofia Pietrok and
Sydney Garner as Linfield's three attempts in the contest.
Women's soccer wraps up their trip to California on Sunday morning, set to face East Texas Baptist in Santa Cruz at 10 a.m.
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