Hornets Post Second Straight Shutout with 2-0 Win Against Tri-State University at Home
September 28, 2005
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Hornets Post Second Straight Shutout with 2-0 Win Against Tri-State University at Home September 28, 2005 |
Two first-half goals helped the Kalamazoo College women's soccer team earn its second straight shutout win--this time, over the visiting Tri-State University (TSU) Thunder on Wednesday afternoon at home. With the win, the Hornets improve their 2005 season record to 4-4-1 overall (3-3 MIAA). The team has the upcoming weekend off, and will then return to MIAA action on Tuesday 10/4 at St. Mary's College (South Bend, IN).
Against TSU, Kalamazoo opened the game's scoring in just the 8th minute of play, when sophomore defender Rachel Fedore made a great attacking run up the left side of the field and hit a picture-perfect cross to senior midfielder Megan Brady at the far post. Brady connected with the flighted ball at around the 6-yard-box, and in one touch buried the ball in the back of the net. Just 15 minutes later, the Hornets struck again when junior midfielder Macy Lepper sent a through-ball between two TSU defenders for freshman forward Sarah Arnosky to run onto. The pass hit off a TSU defender and momentarily seemed as though it wasn't going to make it behind their defense, but Arnosky quickly changed the path of her run to battle for the ball and head to goal. Once inside the 18-yard-box, she easily slotted the ball past the Thunder goalkeeper, putting the Hornets up 2-0 in the 23rd minute of the game.
The remaining minutes of the first half were mainly played in TSU's end of the field, with the exception of two good scoring chances created by TSU in front of K's goal. Just after the second Hornet goal was scored, TSU ended up with the ball just outside the 18-yard-box on the opposite end of the field. TSU's Nichole Stringham fired a shot that ricocheted off the far post and landed about 10 yards away from the goal on the other side. With another Thunder player receiving that ball in front of an almost completely wide-open Hornet goal mouth, it seemed that TSU was surely going to cut K's lead in half--but the next shot was fired wide and high of the goal and Kalamazoo had dodged a bullet. Just minutes later, Stringham again broke free in Kalamazoo's end of the field, earning herself a breakaway with a perfectly-timed run that Kalamazoo's defenders thought was offsides and stopped chasing. Sophomore goalkeeper Monisha Berkowski proved why she is one of the best in the MIAA, however, by cutting down Stringham's angle and making a great save to preserve the Hornet shutout.
In the second half, Kalamazoo began to fall into a sloppy style of play and their possession-oriented game from the first half began to falter. The Hornets put up 10 shots on TSU's goal in the second half, but none of them found the back of the net and TSU's goalkeeper was forced to make just 4 saves in the period.
For the day, Kalamazoo held a 23-10 advantage in the shots category, and a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks. Berkowski posted 4 saves in her 71 minutes, and sophomore keeper Jennie Smith posted one save in the last 19 minutes of play. Together, the goalkeeping duo earned Kalamazoo's fourth shutout of the 2005 season.