MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's soccer team faced a late challenge from North Central University on Friday, but hung on to defeat the Rams by a score of 3-2. After putting three goals on the board in the first 14 minutes, the Cougars were denied a number of opportunities after that and had to survive a comeback from the Rams to pick up their first win of the year.
In the early going, Minnesota Morris looked like it would be an easy day in the office. North Central produced very little outside of the long-range efforts of Alexis Orlando. By contrast, the Cougars were racing through the NCU defense and producing chance after chance from in close.
The scoring was opened by
Hannah Pedderson on the rebound of a
Kim Peters shot to make it 1-0 in the 11th minute. Less than a minute after that, a kick from
Bernadette Cienik hit the ground, took a big hop, and allowed Peters to run onto it and finish past Hannah Grubbs to make it 2-0 in the 12th minute.
The scoring binge was finished by
Monica Calderon with her first goal of the season in the 14th minute with a ball over the top from
Emma Giere earning the assist.
Orlando took shots from anywhere and everywhere and that strategy paid dividends as she beat Cienik from well over 30 yards in the 17th minute to put the Rams on the board. The match moved to the half with Minnesota Morris out in front, 3-1.
Despite producing chance after chance in the second half, including a shot off the crossbar from
Maddie Schneider in the first two minutes after halftime, the Cougars lacked the finishing touch that could have put the match away. Instead, North Central found its way back into the match as Kara Lewis was played into space down the right and finished at the near post in the 81st minute to make it 3-2. In the three minutes that followed, Cienik made a pair of saves on shots from Orlando and then saw a header from Orlando off a corner kick carom off the crossbar.
After that near-miss from NCU, Minnesota Morris put the clamps down and closed the match out with no further difficulty.
Cienik earned her first win of the season, making four saves. Peters ended with seven shots in the match, five of which were on goal. Calderon had six shots, including four on goal. Pedderson added another four shots, three on goal.
Minnesota Morris looks to build on Friday's victory when the University of Northwestern comes to Cougar Field on Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff.
