Sonoma State women's soccer team falls short in NCAA tournament

Sonoma State University’s women’s soccer team lost its opening-round game in the NCAA Division II tournament in Portland on Thursday, with Western Washington handing the Seawolves an early end to their postseason via a 1-0 loss.

Western Washington, seeded 16th in the tournament, scored its lone goal in the 16th minute on a header by Gabriela Pelogi, who knocked Liv Larson’s ball in from four yards out.

The one-goal lead held for the remainder of the game, though Sonoma State changed up its formation in the second half with the goal of generating more offensive chances.

The shift resulted in the Seawolves more than doubling the number of shots they took - a total of 11 in the second half - but none got past Western Washington goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx.

“To be honest, I think we let down. I think we had opportunities to score early and to tie the game and I think we just didn’t put our chances away,” SSU coach Emiria Salzmann Dunn said in a statement after the game. “So we had to change tactics a little bit to generate a little bit more offense and it just didn’t work out for us.”