Gonzaga women's soccer handed tough loss in home opener

The Gonzaga women's soccer team remains winless against UC Irvine after they dropped their home opener 6-2 on Friday afternoon.

The Anteaters (2-1-1) are now 6-0-0 all-time against the Zags (2-2-1).

It was a battle for the first 26 minutes until a missed tackle by the Bulldogs put Irvine's Dana Sanderlin in a one-on-one situation with the Zags defense. Sanderlin put her shot past junior goalkeeper Lauren Ames to put the Anteaters up 1-0.

Less than a minute later Tanya Taylor found the back of the net to give Irvine a 2-0 advantage.

The Bulldogs responded seconds later as freshmen Ali Ohashi and Cassie Geerdts assisted senior Ashley Riley with her second goal of the season to cut the deficit in half.

It was a tight first half as UCI held a slight 9-8 advantage in shots.

In the second half, the Anteaters came out attacking. They went up 3-1 in the 48th minute as the Zags failed to clear Jordan Bruce's corner and Judy Christopher buried it from 15 yards straight away.

UCI would eventually make it 5-1 on goals by Nikki Forest and Lexi Kopf.

 Despite the four goal deficit, the Bulldogs kept fighting and in the 89th minute Gonzaga's Kellie Shreve and Kelsey Werre set up a cross for Katie Spangenberg, who buried it at the far post for the Bulldogs second goal.

Seconds later, however, the Zags would give up a sixth goal to Irvine as Kopf dribbled in and beat Ames for her second goal of the match.

The Anteaters were a physical team, tallying 13 fouls compared to the two by the Zags.

The Bulldogs travel to Seattle on Sunday to take on the Seattle University Redhawks at 1 p.m.