Dan Noth/Winonan

After taking a disappointing 2-0 loss Friday against Minnesota State University, Mankato, the Winona State University women’s soccer team rebounded to finish the regular season with a 3-0 victory over Concordia-St. Paul.

The Warriors faced a tough team in Minnesota-State, who sits atop the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings with a 15-0 record. The Mavericks’ defense proved to be more than the Warriors could handle, being held to five shots and just one on goal.

The Mavericks’ offense, which leads the conference in scoring, came out firing, scoring on a quick goal in the third minute before the Warrior offense could react.

Winona State settled in and held the Mavericks in check before allowing a final goal to Nicole Dooher who sent a cross to the right side of the net in the 64th minute.

“They were a tough team,” said Cailyn McCauley. “We played strong until the last minute, but we know we can beat them.”
Caitlin Lilly led the Warriors on offense, taking two shots; Samantha Fegen managed the only shot on goal for Winona State.

“More important for us now is the conference championship; we hope to see them (Minnesota State) again and to beat them when it matters most.”

Saturday was a different story. Katy Soliday, who leads the Warriors with seven assists, found herself on the scoring end of a pass from Samantha Fegen to give Winona State a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute against Concordia-St. Paul.

The senior scored her second goal of the season on the play, while Fegen made her first assist.
Alexandra Vial made five saves in the shutout, the 10th of the season for the sophomore goalkeeper, as the offense kept the ball on the offensive side taking 16 shots and putting nine on goal.

The Warriors added two more goals after half time when Taylor Zehren assisted to Caylin McCauley in the 59th minute and Morgan LeFebvre added the final goal off a cross from Caitlin Lilly about 10 yards away from goal.

“The win will head us into our first conference tournament game with some momentum,” said sophomore forward Cailyn McCauley. “We want to go into Friday with even more momentum.”

The victory helped to earn Winona State the No. 2 seed for the upcoming conference tournament. The Warriors, who are now 14-4, and 13-2 in the NSIC, will host St. Cloud State on Wednesday, Oct. 31. St. Cloud finished the season with a 9-7-2 record, 9-6-1 in NSIC play.

Winona State took the first matchup of the season in a 1-0 thriller in which Alaina Kne scored the game-winning goal early in the second half. The Warriors finished the season in second place of the NSIC, six points behind unbeaten Minnesota-State.

The Warriors will be looking to continue their conference title streak winning a championship this year would be nine consecutive seasons.

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