HELENA, Mont. – Carroll College women's soccer overcame an early goal from Northwest University and scored four unanswered to cruise to a 4-1 senior day victory over the Eagles Saturday afternoon on the pitch at Nelson Stadium.
The Saints honored the 10 seniors on this years squad before the game and the Eagles took advantage to score a goal in just the fourth minute of the match.
Bailey Travis sent a free kick over the outstretched hands of
Dani Turley, who got the start between the pipes for senor day ahead of junior
Jamie Carter.
"One of the things we talked about before the game and even at halftime was just the emotion of being your last weekend at home and honoring the seniors and being able to play with that emotion but also being able to control it – and it's difficult to balance that," head coach David Thorvilson said. "I thought we did quite well the first half balancing that. We just had a few minutes of nervous or anxious minutes and they scored that goal. But we countered and scored a really nice goal to get us right back in the game and it was ours for the taking in the second half."
The Saints quickly countered and equalized on a goal by
Cassidy Hammons just 34 seconds later.
"I think Northwest was happy and surprised to score a goal, and they weren't ready for us to come right back at them," Thorvilson said. "That was awesome."
The 1-1 draw held through the remainder of the first half but the Saints would pour it on after the break.
In the 60th minute, a Carroll corner kick bounced around in the box before coming to
Michaela Kueffler 10 yards out to the right of the goal. She bounced the ball off the right post and in for her first goal of the game to put the Saints up 2-1.
Carroll got some insurance in the 79th minute when a center pass was headed in, across the face of the goalie by
Kayla Bayer to put Carroll up 3-1.
The Saints put the final goal in the 89th minute when Kueffler gathered a deflected pass from a Northwest player and bounced the ball off of the crossbar and in for her second goal of the game.
The Saints outshot the Eagles 21-10 including a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal.
The win puts Carroll at 7-1-1 in Cascade Conference play which is first in points.
The Saints have just a pair of conference matches both on the road. The Saints travel to Ashland, Ore., to face Southern Oregon Friday before facing Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, Saturday.
