The University of Minnesota Morris women’s soccer team coasted to a 3-0 victory over North Central University on Saturday afternoon behind three first-half goals. The win improves the Cougars to 4-9-0 (4-4-0 UMAC) on the season.
Minnesota Morris put pressure on North Central from the start, forcing saves from Arien Fritts twice in the second minute on shots from Kim Peters and Sydney Lendway. After earning a corner in the ninth minute, the Cougars took the lead as Monica Calderon headed cleanly in on the delivery from Caroline O’Donnell to take a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars doubled their lead in the 13th minute as Lacey Keller fed BeBe Say on the edge of the penalty area. Say dribbled past a defender to clear out space and hit the upper corner with her left foot to increase the margin to 2-0.
Fritts continued to be kept busy the rest of the first half, making two more saves before the match was 30 minutes old. Say then hit the woodwork in the 31st minute before Ayla Wicklow scored her first collegiate goal in the 34th minute, hitting the ball out of the air on a cross from Calderon.
The second half was played more evenly between the two teams, but Bernadette Cienik was a wall in goal for the Cougars, making eight saves in the final 55 minutes to preserve the shutout.
Minnesota Morris ended with a 28-10 lead in shots in the match, with 19 of those shots on goal. Say led the Cougars with seven (four on goal), while Kim Peters and Hannah Pedderson each had five. Four of Peters’ shots were on target, while two of Pedderson’s were as well.
The Cougars are back at it on Tuesday afternoon, traveling to Crown College for a 4 p.m. start in the first of two make-up matches from postponements earlier this season.
