Santa Barbara, Calif. – Freshman Mehana Ortiz gave No.4 seed Oregon Tech a 1-0 lead, and the Owls' defense dished-out its eighth straight shutout as OIT took down the No.1 seed Westmont College 2-0 Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the 2020 NAIA Women's Soccer Championships.
The national championship win was the first in program history. Tech improves to 12-1 on the season and advances to the championship game of the Santa Barbara bracket to face No. 2 seed Eastern Oregon. The winner of that game will head to the final site for the 37th Annual National Championships in Foley, Alabama April 27 – May 3, 2021.
Ortiz hit a long-shot from 40-yards out just over the keepers' hands in the 25
th minute to give the Hustlin' Owls the 1-0 lead.
Tech took that 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to stellar defense led by goal keeper Alyx Burkhartzmeyer (Pictured by
Kelly Caleb) who had three saves in the half and five for the game.
Kiah Wetzell put the game away with just five minutes remaining, as she caught the Warriors' keeper off her line and scored on the run into an empty net from 20-yards out, sealing the win for the Owls.
For the game Tech was outshot 12-8 with each team having five shots on goal.