Fulton, Mo., March 16, 2021 – The Westminster College women's soccer team returned home after more than a years absence from Blue Jay Field. The air was frigid but the Blue Jays play on the pitch was red hot. The Blue Jays kept the pressure on the Iowa Wesleyan University Tigers all night long in route to a 2-0 victory.
The theme of the night was pressure. The Blue Jays would outshoot the visiting Tigers an overwhelming 28-2. Keeping the ball in their offensive third for most of the game. Attacking the Tiger defense with run after run and shot after shot.
The Blue Jays would finally break through in the 38th minute. After the Westminster defense cleared a ball to space Kelsey Gordon would run onto the ball and take on an Iowa Wesleyan defender. Gordon made a move around the defender and buried a shot from the top of the box over the head of the Tiger keeper for a 1-0 Blue Jay lead.
The Jays would not wait very long before adding to their lead. In the 42nd minute the Blue Jays Rachel Nolte would take possession of the ball about 70 yards from the goal and would make a beautiful pass through to a sprinting Natalie Schulte past midfield who would outrun the Tiger defense and beat the keeper to give the Blue Jays their second goal of the game and a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Jays would keep the pressure up in the second half. Despite many scoring opportunities due to their relentless play the Tiger keeper, who made 16 saves, managed to keep the Jays out of the net for the remainder of the game.
At the other end of the field the Blue Jay defense was ready for anything the Tigers had to throw at them. Strong games by Alaina Allsbury, Karina Esquivel and Abbey Montana helped limit the Tigers to just two shot attempts, both went wide of the goal. Megan Davidson recorded her first collegiate win and her first shutout in goal. The 2-0 victory improves the Westminster record to 1-1 overall and 1-1 in SLIAC play. The Tigers drop to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in SLIAC play.
Head Coach Wendy Sanchez had this to say about her teams first win, "The energy was high and we played collectively as a unit. We settled in and executed everything we've been working on. Our possession was effective and our attacking presence was on giving us scoring opportunities and two nice goals from Natalie and Kelsey." She added, "This was a overall team effort and a great win for the team."
The Blue Jays will hit the road this coming Tuesday as the will travel to take on the Greenville University Panthers. The kick off is set for 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
