Kylie Bridenhagen/ Winonan
Over the weekend, the Winona State University women’s soccer team rounded out its regular season with two losses to its two remaining NSIC opponent teams left in the schedule—Concordia University-St. Paul and No 1. Minnesota State, Mankato.
On Halloween evening at home, the Warriors took on the Golden Bears of Concordia St. Paul. The game would result with a Golden Bear 3-2 overtime victory over the Warriors.
The first half of play had both teams tied 0-0. The goal scoring would not start until the second half of the game, where both teams combined scored five goals.
Winona State was on the scoreboard first when Taylor Zehren found the back of the net for her third goal of the season and the Warriors’ first of the game. She scored in the 56th minute of play, with assists from Kati Baker and Kenzie Rose.
Concordia-St. Paul’s Erica Landry scored a goal of her own and tied up the score in the 81st minute to bring the score to 1-1.
Less than two minutes after the scored had tied up, Hannah Burt scored an unassisted goal—and her second of the season—to put the Warriors back in the lead 2-1.
In the 86th minute of action, the Golden Bears tied the game up once again as Concordia-St. Paul’s Sarah Pieper made the score 2-2. Regular time would soon run out, forcing the tied teams into overtime.
Almost ten minutes later, Concordia-St. Paul’s Chelsie Lindsay scored the match winning goal to improve the score to 3-2, giving the Golden Bears their fifth win of the season.
Winona State had a total of 20 shots during the game, with nine of those being on goal.
Alaina Kne had a game-high six shots, with two on goal to lead the Warriors.
Devon Richards, Madalyn Jansen, Rose and Burt each contributed two shots to the team’s total.
Shauna Rodman, Cailyn McCauley, Darian Molter, Meg Riebau, Baker and Zehren rounded out the Warriors 20 shot total, each with one shot.
Goalkeeper Rachel Oleson made five saves and allowed three goals.
Concordia-St. Paul totaled 11 shots with eight of its shots being on goal.
Lindsay had a team-high three shots with all of her shots being on goal.
Golden Bear goalkeeper Emma Gartner made seven saves and allowed the two Warrior goals.
Ending out their regular season play, the Warriors faced the nation’s top ranked Division Two team—Minnesota State, Mankato. Prior to this matchup, the Mavericks were undefeated, ranked No.1 in the country, as well as No. 1 in the NSIC.
This is also how the Mavericks season would come to an end.
Mankato edged out the Warriors with their last game of the season with a 2-0 shutout win against the purple and white.
The Mavericks scored one goal apiece in each half, with their first scoring opportunity coming from Emily Moris in the 32nd minute. This goal was Moris’ sixth of the season.
After the half, Mankato’s Kiana Nickel scored her ninth goal of the year and the second of the game for the Mavericks to ultimately give her team their 18th straight win on the year.
The Warriors totaled 13 shots overall on the game with six of those being on goal.
Zehren had a game-high five shots with three of those on goal. Burt was also in the double digits with two shots.
Nicole Sames, Holly Berling, Rodman, Rose, Baker and Kne each had one shot apiece.
Oleson made six saves and allowed two goals.
The Mavericks had 18 total shots as a team with eight of those on goal.
Moris lead Mankato with five individual shots and her goal. Teammate Dana Savino was right behind her with four shots with one being on goal and an assist.
Maverick goalkeeper Molly McGough made six saves while allowing zero Warrior shots to get through her possession.
Winona State ended its 2014 season with a 13-4-1 overall record and 10-4-1 in conference play.
The Warriors tied for third place in the NSIC (10-4-1) with Upper Iowa University. Augustana College finished in second (12-3), and Mankato was crowned champion with a perfect 15-0 record.
Winona State will play in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament against a team the Warriors had defeated 2-0 earlier in the season—Southwest Minnesota State University (10-7-1 overall, 9-5-1 in the NSIC) at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5 at home at Warrior Stadium.
