ATHERTON, CA – Women's Soccer hosted OUAZ on Thursday afternoon for the first weekend of GSAC matches in the 2023 season. The back and forth battle ended in OUAZ's favor, 1-2. A header goal from Dania Ben Shabat off of an Acopan corner kick is the Oaks lone goal of the match. Menlo put up a good fight with many opportunities on goal, but OUAZ was able to contain them to just one goal.

Ben Shabat With a Header to the Back of the Net

All three goals today were scored in the first half of the match. OUAZ went up 0-2 early on from two different corner kick opportunities. It was Menlo's turn for a corner kick in the 34th minute. Sophomore, Kawai Acopan, tends to take corner kicks for the Oaks when she is on the pitch. She played a perfect ball inside the 6-yard box where Dania Ben Shabat was crashing hard. She put a strong head on the ball to place it past the OUAZ goalkeeper and in the back of the net. That would account for Acopan's second assist of the season. Ben Shabat, the Senior out of Tucson, Arizona,  now has 2 goals and 1 assist so far in the 2023 season. 

Melcore Tallies 7 Saves Against Spirit 

Giorgia Melcore started her fifth match for the Oaks in the goalkeeper spot. She put up a 7 save game, 5 of them in the second half. The Spirit had 6 shots in the second half and were pushing for another goal but Menlo defended as a team and was able to keep it to a one goal deficit. This season so far, Melcore has appeared in all five countable matches for the Oaks and has played 405 minutes. She has 22 saves across the five matches and has a 1.56 goals against average. Melcore continues to make clutch saves for Menlo to keep them in these tight matchups. 

Up Next….

Quick turnaround for the Oaks as they host Arizona Christian University for their second GSAC match of the weekend. On Saturday, September 30, Women's Soccer will face off with the Firestorm at 10am on Wunderlich field.