ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College women's soccer team (5-11-1, 2-8-1 GPAC) hosted a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) foe the Hastings College Broncos (11-4-1, 7-3-1 GPAC), the Raiders battled but fell to the Broncos by a score of 3-2 on senior day.
Prior to today's match Head Coach
Shannon Andringa and her coaching staff honored the senior class team members. Andringa had this to say about the seniors, "Each of these eight seniors have left unique marks on the program. I'm so grateful for the short amount of time that I've had with them. They have each invested in and served this team in so many ways. They have been great teammates, handling challenges and setbacks with grace. I'm excited to see the impact they will make in whatever sphere they end up in next. They will be missed greatly by the coaching staff and their teammates."
As play began Andringa's squad appeared to be connected and possessed the ball well. The first half saw both squad's piece together their respective attacks but a majority of the possession was in the Raiders favor. For the half the Raiders out shot the Broncos 6-2 but were unable to find the back of the net ending the first half in a 0-0 tie.
The second half would see a lot more scoring from both sides. An early second half corner presented a promising opportunity in the 50
th minute for the Raiders as senior
Audrey Leyen (Waterloo, Iowa/Gladbrook-Reinbeck) took the corner and sent the ball in, it was partially deflected by a Bronco defender but the ball found the foot of fellow senior
Maria Lopes (Altamira – Para, Brazil/Williams Baptist University). Her shot found the top right corner of the net for her first career goal giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead. The goal held special meaning to the senior forward as today is the one-year anniversary of her mother's passing. Moments later in the 56
th minute another Raider attack was coming together.
Julie Dunlap (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) sent a cross in just out of the reach of the keeper and a
Keslie Paul (Frisco, Texas/Reedy) connected for another Raider goal. With a 2-0 score in favor of Northwestern the Broncos made a big offensive push, the result three unanswered goals by Hastings. The first coming from Dekota Schubert, her 11
th goal of the season. Minutes later in the 65
th minute Jacqueline Gilbert found the back of the net to tie the score at two. Another push resulted in the Broncos on the verge of scoring but Leyen was in the right place at the right time and made a huge defensive save to keep the score at 2-2. Gilbert would score again in the 76
th minute to put the Broncos up 3-2 and that score would hold and be the final result.
For the game the Raiders were out shot 11-7 but created more corner kick chances with eight.
Kaelin Alons (Jr., Orange City, Iowa/Unity Christian) was in the net again for the Raiders and tallied seven saves. The loss drops her record in the net to 3-7 on the season.
Up Next: The Raiders will conclude their season on Saturday, Oct. 30, at Doane with kickoff set for 5:00 p.m.
