University of Minnesota, Morris, 2, Northwestern College, 3
The rain, which fell steadily during the men’s game, let up for the start of the women’s game.
And as the skies dried up the Cougar women’s soccer team and the Northwestern College made plenty of thunder on the field in a tightly fought contest that was even until the 88th minute when the Eagles’ Rebekah Kirby punched home the game winner.
The tough loss dropped the Cougars to 4-5 on the season, and was their first conference defeat.
Early on UMM had great success keeping the pressure on the Northwestern. In the sixth minute, first year Tayler Fairchild knocked home a tally off a beautiful crossing pass from first year (and fellow Arizonan) Katie Kestner. It was Fairchild’s second goal of the year.
The 1-0 held until the 39th minute when Northwetern’s Alyssabeth Hester scored off a pass from Lindsey Anderson. While the momentum might have shifted at that moment, the Cougars roared back and four minutes later, captain Maddy Gerber scored her fourth goal of the season, also assisted by Kestner, giving UMM a 2-1 halftime lead.
The Eagles proved game in the second half and increased the offensive pressure on goalkeeper Emily Jacob. In the 60th minute, Heidi Anderson evened the score at 2-2.
For a while, the game looked destined for an extra period. The teams stayed deadlocked, exchanging offensive surges like punches, going back and forth until Kirby’s late goal made the difference.
University of Minnesota, Morris, 2, Northwestern College, 3