Reagan Johnson/Winonan

The Winona State University women’s soccer team split a pair of matchups last weekend, starting with a 4-0 loss against Minot State Saturday in Minot, N.D.

The Warriors and Beavers played a scoreless game until the Beavers got on the scoreboard first with a goal by Minot State’s Ninfa Ramirez with 52 seconds left in the first half.

“It was a bit of a physical game,” coach Ali Omar said. “The whole thing was not something our players are used to and not something our players are willing to play. That’s not something we coach. Minot was a pretty good team to start with but there where a bit of cheap shots here and there that really took us off our game.”

The Beavers added to their lead in the second half, scoring three times to bring the score to the 4–0 final. Chloe Melton and Rimke Eurlings scored in the 52nd and 86th minutes, respectively, and Ramirez added her second goal of the day in the 78th minute.

The Warriors were limited to shoot five times during the game and were unable to get any shots on goal. Minot State compiled 14 shots with nine of those on goal.

Junior Kenzie Rose led the way offensively for Winona State, landing a pair of shots, while senior Kelsey Foss, senior Nicole Sames and junior Meg Riebau recorded one apiece.

The loss was the first time the Warriors allowed four goals in a contest since a 4-2 loss at Central Missouri to open the 2012 season.

“We really couldn’t salvage anything out of it other than just walking out without serious injuries,” Omar said.

Omar explained it took good team leadership to recover from Saturday’s game and come out with a win on Sunday.

“You have some upper classmen leadership and you have some strong freshmen who are coming to help us out,” Omar said.

On Sunday the Warriors faced the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. Winona State was the aggressor on goal throughout the game with a total of 17 shots, eight of those on goal.

However, neither team found the back of the net after the first 90 minutes of regulation, forcing an extra period of play.

“The Mary goalkeeper made a few great saves,” Omar said. “Again, our runs are either too early or too late maybe by a step here and there.”

“We needed to just put a goal in,” forward Mehan Bolton said. “It is [the overtime] two ten minute halves and we had the adrenaline and the excitement going into it so we knew that one was going to come shortly.”

Early in the second overtime the Warriors broke through. First-year Abby Bohanski freed herself to receive a pass off a corner kick and dribbled all the way to Mary goalkeeper Bailey Wenz. Wenz collided with Bohanski, giving the Marauder goalie a red card and allowing the Warriors a penalty kick.

Bolton took the penalty kick and Kelsey Eksedt, Wenz’s replacement in the net, initially stopped the shot. But Bolton followed her own shot and kicked in the rebound to seal the Warrior victory.

After allowing a career-high four goals Saturday, Winona State goalkeeper Rachel Oleson answered with the shutout, her fifth of the season. Oleson had to make one save to post the victory in front of the net.

Offensively, Bolton paved the way for the Warriors with five shots and three on goal, both game-highs. Sophomore Mikaella Sabinash recorded a couple of shots on goal while sophomore Hayley Bach, first-year Chase Rehm and first-year MacKenzie Challoner netted one apiece.

After being on the road two weekends in a row, the Warriors are ready to be playing at home this weekend.

“It should be good. Four games on the road may not seem like too much but when you have to travel that far it takes a toll on you and we’re happy to be home,” Omar added.

Winona State (7-3, 4-3) faces Minnesota State University Moorhead on Saturday and wraps up the weekend on Sunday against Northern State University. Both matches are set for 1 p.m.

“I’m hoping we come off with two wins,” Bolton said. “There’s still some things that we have to work on but the team is coming together, we’ll get it. I’m looking forward to them. It will be a good match.”