McPherson, KS – The drought is over. The McPherson College women's soccer team earned their first win of the season with a 1-0 victory, at home, over the Sterling College Warriors.
For most of the year, the Bulldog defense has been solid, holding their opponents to a couple of goals per game, but it has been the offense that has struggled finding ways to put the ball in the goal. Against the Warriors, the defense again did their part, shutting out the visitors and holding them to 7 shots on goal.
This time the, however, the offense was up to the task, and they came through in the 43
rd minute of the opening half. Deep in the Warriors defensive third, the Bulldogs had a series of throw ins on the near sideline. On one of the throws,
Hannah McKay (Fr. Golden, Colo.), found
Emma Singleton (Fr. North Las Vegas, Nev.), along the sideline. Singleton played the ball back to
Peyton Morris (So. Burleson, Texas), who took one touch and then passed the ball to the middle of the field to a wide open
Alissa Hofmann (Jr. Gilbert, Ariz.). Hofmann struck the ball beautifully on the first touch, and fired a ball into the back of the net from just the top of the 18 yard box. Singleton and Morris were both credited with an assist on the goal.
It was a great goal, and it gave the ladies momentum heading into the halftime intermission, and confidence as they started the second half. After a 15 minute break from the action, the two teams returned to the turf to play another 45 minutes. It looked like the Warriors might get the equalizer, midway through the 2
nd half when one of their forwards found herself behind the Bulldog defense, and 1 on 1 with
Christie Silber (So. Simi Valley, Calif.). Silber came off her line to challenge the shot. She made a spectacular save, nearly taking the ball off the foot of the Sterling attacker.
The Mac offense was unable to create any more quality scoring chances, but they didn't really need to. The defense was outstanding down the stretch, keeping the Warriors off the board, preserving the clean sheet. Silber faced 7 total shots from the Warriors, 4 of them on frame. She tallied 4 more saves, giving her 101 total for the season.
McPherson head coach,
Mark Olson, commented on the win saying, "It was great to see the smiles on our players' faces after tonight's win. They have worked so hard this year and it finally paid off with the positive result. Tonight didn't solve our scoring issues but it was nice to see the ball in the back of our opponents net."
With their first win under their belt, the Bulldogs will try and keep the momentum rolling this weekend when they head to Leavenworth, Kansas for a matchup at 5:30 pm on Saturday afternoon against the Saint Mary University Spires.
