MINOT, N.D. – University of Mary junior Megan Searson twice took advantage of Minot State University mistakes by converting penalty kicks but her scoring outburst wasn't enough in a 3-2 Marauders loss in the Northern Sun opener for both teams.
 
Searson, who has scored all three of her career goals on penalty shots, knotted the game on her first attempt and pulled the squad within one on her second. The two goals are the first of the season for the Marauders.
 
After the Marauders (0-2-1 overall / 0-1-0 NSIC) and Beavers (3-1-0 / 1-0-0) had played nearly 250 straight minutes of scoreless soccer against each other, including two straight scoreless draws the past two years, goals came fast and furious tonight.
 
Just 92 seconds into the game, Ninfa Ramirez scored on a header to provide the homestanding Beavers a 1-0 lead. It was the quickest goal to start a game in Minot State history.
 
A Minot State foul inside the box allowed U-Mary to knot the contest at 14:01 on Searson's first penalty kick of the game.
 
The Beavers didn't take long to regain the lead. After entering the game less than four minutes earlier, Taryn Love deflected a ball slid across the middle by Sydnee Canales into the net in the 17^th minute. Just under ten minutes later Love scored what proved to be the winning goal when she redirected a cross in the 27^th minute.
 
The two teams soon settled into a familiar defensive posture as they generated just one shot each the remainder of the first half.
 
An offensive flurry out of intermission allowed the Marauders to close within one. The Marauders fired three shots at the Beavers goal in the first five minutes. Although all three shots went high, the pressure also forced Minot State into two penalties. The second infraction allowed Searson to pull the Marauders within 3-2 when she hammered home her second penalty kick of the night at 50:03.
 
Both teams traded a handful of shots down the stretch but the Marauders could never find the equalizer. Alexis Nahring fired one last shot for U-Mary in the 88^th minute but her last shot missed to the right.
 
The Marauders held a slight 13-11 edge in shots attempted, including an 8-5 advantage in the second half. Both squads placed seven shots on frame. The Beavers had five corner kicks to two for the Marauders.
 
Searson, Michelle McGeary and Megan Searson all took three shots for U-Mary with all three of Wolfer's directed on frame. Four different players took a pair each for MSU.
 
The Marauders continue their six game road trip this weekend at Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota Crookston on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20.
 
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