Two goals by Erika Savela and a three-point showing from Natalie Ingram helped propel the Menlo College women's soccer team to a 3-1 win over visiting Northwest Christian on Monday.

The Oaks improved to 7-2 with their fourth straight victory, the lastest in nonconference action.

"I give credit to Northwest Christian for coming in and imposing their style of play, but I've got to hand it to our team for working hard and being patient," Menlo coach Scott Myers said. "We are continuing to work hard and are trying to improve on simple principles learned earlier in the season. We need to finish on more opportunities, but I do see us moving in the right direction."

Two Menlo first-half goals and a pair of brilliant Whitney Galindo saves helped set the tempo. Just over nine minutes into the affair, the Oaks' Jocelyn Aguilar set up Natalie Ingram, who connected for her eighth score of the year and a 1-0 Menlo lead.

Ingram added an assist on a goal by Savela in the first half as the senior from Stockholm, Sweden, tallied her seventh score of the season.

Sandwiched around Menlo's first-half pair of net finders, were two clutch saves by the aforementioned Gailndo. The junior from San Mateo had the tall task of halting not one, but two Katelyn Partridge attempts from in close, after Partridge had already alluded the last line of Menlo's defense. Overall Galindo ended with four total saves, allowing just one second-half goal.

The Oaks' 2-0 halftime margin proved to be short-lived, as the Beacons chopped their deficit in half just 5 1/2 minutes into the second stanza.

With the score 2-1, Menlo's defense went to work in preventing a potential equalizer. Menlo surrendered just four second-half Beacon shots, and inside the tilt's final minute the Oaks officially put the match on ice.

In a last-ditch effort to knot the score at 2, Northwest Christian pushed up on the attack, leaving a 1-on-1 battle with Menlo's Savela and the Beacon's Miranda Cruz on the opposite end of the pitch. Savela received a ball, dangled around Cruz, and beat keeper Melody Bliss to effectively seal the deal.

Menlo will head to Southern California for a two-game road swing this weekend. The Oaks will take on Bethesda University on Friday and Soka University on Sunday in Aliso Viejo.

— Menlo College Athletics

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