FENTON, Mo. – The Westminster women's soccer team was defeated by Webster 1-0 on Thursday night in the SLIAC Tournament.
"Webster always presents a challenge and we looked up to it. In moments we looked strong and focused, executing our game plan," said Westminster Head Coach Wendy Sanchez. "Although tonight wasn't the outcome we wanted for our seniors, I'm very appreciative of each player's perseverance and their ability to play their hearts out all season."
Maddy Lawton took the first shot of the match just over four minutes into the match. Lawton's shot was on target, however, a Webster defender was able to stop it from going into the net for a team save. The Gorloks had the next two scoring opportunities with a pair of shots. The first shot soared high and wide over the net and the other was saved by Westminster goalie Sarah Cradick. Westminster answered with a shot by Kate Ponder that was stopped by the Webster goalie.
Over the next few minutes the Gorloks continued to fire shots towards the net. In a three minute span they recorded four shots, three of which were on goal. Cradick held her ground against the Webster attack and made three saves to keep the game tied at 0-0.
In the 30th minute a pass was kicked back to Cradick who held the ball briefly before passing out to a teammate. A Webster player was able to get control on the ball and launched a high shot towards goal that soared over Cradick who was still out of the net. The ball sailed into the back of the net to put Webster up 1-0.
Webster took two more shots in the first half, both of which were saved by Cradick. The Gorloks outshot the Blue Jays 12-2 in the half and took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Cradick made seven saves in the period for Westminster.
Westminster doubled their shot total in the second half but could not find the back of the net. With the clock winding down to the final minutes the Blue Jays launched a ball into the box off a free kick that ended up at the feet of Madison Ekern. Ekern fired a quick shot that struck the crossbar and went out of bounds to end the scoring threat and Webster held on for a 1-0 win.
Lawton and Ponder each recorded two shots for Westminster. Cradick played all 90 minutes in goal and made eight saves.
With the loss the Blue Jays end the season with a record of 6-9-3. After losing six of their first seven games the Blue Jays went 6-1-2 and earned a spot in the SLIAC tournament.
"We've come a long way in a short amount of time and there is a lot to be excited about with this team in the years to come" said Sanchez.