BISMARCK, ND – Kayla Alcott struck for a pair of early goals to lead the University of Mary women's soccer team to a 5-0 win over visiting University of Minnesota Crookston. Kaitlyn Schwass added a pair of goals in the second half, Maureen Sullivan posted a trio of assists and Madisyn Waltman equaled the program mark for career shutouts in the Marauders final home match of the 2021 regular season.
 
The victory improves the Marauders record to 9-5-3 overall and 8-4-2 in the Northern Sun and sets up a match at Minot State University in the season finale to determine the final home playoff spot in the NSIC tournament. UMary sits in 5^th place with 26 points while Minot State is 4^th with 29 points. A Marauders win would pull UMary even in the standings with the Beavers and give the Marauders the edge in the tiebreaker for the 4^th and final home berth in the tournament's opening round. Concordia-St. Paul is also tied for 5^th in the NSIC standings with UMary but the Marauders defeated the Golden Bears 3-1 earlier in the season.
 
"It was great to end the last regular home season game with a win, score a lot of goals, and get players a bunch of a minutes," said Marauders head coach Sarah Cook. "We are ready for a great week of training and to close out the conference schedule. This is what makes the league so fun; getting a chance to play great opponents winding down the year and have an opportunity to host a playoff game at home. I'm really proud of the team!"
 
The Marauders face the Beavers on Friday, November 5, at 5 pm in Minot, ND. The NSIC tournament begins November 10 at the home fields of the top four finishers in the final regular season standings.
 
Playing with a strong wind to their backs to open the match, the Marauders took advantage early as Alcott fired home counters from both sides of the goal. The junior midfielder struck first from the top right corner of the penalty area, beating Golden Eagles goalkeeper Emma Stemplen high in the net only 5:41 into the contest off a helper from Sullivan.
 
Continuing to bottle up Minnesota Crookston in the visitor's defensive zone, Alcott then struck once again in the 10^th minute, taking a feed from Hannah Richter and pounding home a blast from the top left corner of the penalty area to double the UMary advantage to 2-0.
 
The Marauders wore down the Golden Eagles as the game progressed and took advantage of UMary's added depth with a trio of goals in the final eight minutes of play. Taylor Meyrick struck first at 82:33 when she scored her first counter of the season off an assist from Schwass.
 
Schwass shortly followed up with a pair of her own goals, both off feeds from Sullivan. The freshman from Oregon, WI, broke past Stemplen at 86:11 and tallied again in the 89^th minute. The goals were the first two of Schwass' collegiate career.
 
Waltman posted her 25^th career clean sheet in the victory. The junior goalkeeper posted two saves in the match to equal the Marauders all-time record now shared with Kristin Werner.
 
Stemplen stopped 10 shots for UMC.
 
The Marauders dominated the run of play and held advantages in shots (28-3), shots on frame (15-2) and corner kicks (6-3).
 
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