Leavenworth, KS – The McPherson College women's soccer team went on the road on Saturday for a KCAC matchup with the Saint Mary Spires. The Bulldogs, who were coming off their first win of the season on Wednesday over the Sterling College Warriors, fell to the Spires 2-1.
As they have done most of the season, the Bulldogs hung tough with the Spires defensively, but were unable to generate much in the way of offense. There wasn't a lot of action in the opening 45 minutes of action, and the teams went into halftime knotted at 0-0.
Things picked up in the second half, with the Spires getting the scoring started in the 63
rd minute of the game. Just four minutes later, the Bulldogs responded with the equalizer on a corner kick by
Nelly Rodriguez (Jr. Rancho Cordova, Calif.). She drove a ball into the box from the right side and
Emma Singleton (Fr. North Las Vegas, Nev.) made a nice run into the box and found the ball with her head and directed it down and into the back of the net.
For ten minutes, the Bulldogs had new life on the pitch. In the 77
th minute, however, the Spires took the wind out of the Bulldogs' sails with the game winner. The Mac defensive line got caught doing little ball watching and the Spires were able to thread a ball in behind the line and their forward laced a nice ball far post over the outstretched arm of
Christie Silber (So. Simi Valley, Calif.), who was in goal for the Bulldogs.
The spires outshot the Mac ladies 19 to 5 and placed 11 shots on goal, to the Bulldogs' 1. Silber came up with 9 more saves, and is now just two shy of the Bulldogs' single season saves record of 111.
With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 1-12-1 on the year, and 1-7-1 in the KCAC. They will be back in action this upcoming Wednesday when they travel to York College for a KCAC matchup against the Panthers. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 pm in York, Nebraska.
