Dan Noth/Winonan
The Winona State University women’s soccer team kept its win streak alive with a pair of 1-0 victories against Augustana and Wayne State College.
The Warriors improved to a 13-3 and 12-1 record in NSIC conference play, winning their eighth consecutive game.
Sophomore goalkeeper Alexandra Vial and the defense worked hard to record two shutouts on the weekend. This marked Vial’s ninth shutout. All nine shutouts have come against NSIC opponents .
Winona State has outscored their conference opponents 27-4 on the season.
Once again, a freshman came up big for the Warriors as Devon Richards scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal in the 27th minute to put Winona State up 1-0 against Augustana.
Richards scored her third goal of the season after receiving a pass from fellow freshman Cailtin Lilly and sending it to the back of the net after a bounce off the post.
The Warrior defense was stellar in the outing, holding Augustana to eight shots, none of which were on goal, while the offense managed to put five out of ten shots on goal.
Winona State played their forth straight game on the road Sunday, Oct. 21 against Wayne State College, scoring another 1-0 victory.
After a scoreless first half, sophomore Taylor Zehren capitalized on a cross from Mehan Bolton to knock in the only Warrior goal nine minutes after half time. The goal was Zehren’s second of the season.
“We are a very strong team,” said Zehren. “When we work together and are on the same page there aren’t very many teams that are able to compete with us.”
Wayne State tested Alexandra Vial all day, forcing the Warrior goalkeeper to make five saves in the shutout, while the offense received a big boost from Samantha Fegen who took four shots, keeping the pressure on Wayne States defense.
Fegen wasn’t the only Warrior with scoring chances, as seven different players took shots and five put shots on goal.
Winona State will conclude regular season play next weekend at Minnesota State-Mankato on Friday, Oct. 26 and against Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday, Oct. 28.
The matchup Friday will be important for Winona State in hopes of claiming a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season title for the ninth consecutive season. Minnesota State sits atop the conference with an undefeated 13-0 record and three points ahead of Winona State.
“This will set up a meaningful game this Friday,” said head coach Ali Omar. “We are looking forward to our next match.”
You can look for the match to be high scoring as Minnesota-State lead the conference in goals scored, averaging more than three goals per match.
However, Winona State has shown they can put up big numbers, scoring seven against Northern State University and five while playing Minnesota State University, Moorhead.
“This week will be a big week for us so we are going to work hard in practice and do all that we can to prepare for this weekend and our post season run” said Zehren.
Contact Dan at [email protected].
