ST. PAUL, MN –
Kendra Park scored a pair of breakaway goals in the first half to lead the University of Mary women's soccer team to a 2-0 road win over homestanding Concordia-St. Paul. The victory allowed the Marauders to move up in the Northern Sun standings and jump over the Golden Bears into fifth place.
The Marauders improved to 9-2-3 overall and 6-2-3 in the NSIC for 21 points. Concordia-St. Paul dips to 6-5-3 and 6-3-2 for 20 points in the NSIC. The Golden Bears were fourth in the standings entering the day but have slipped to sixth. UMary has four games remaining in the league, including contests against the top three teams; Minnesota State (25 points), Bemidji State (24) and Minot State (24). Augustana is 4
th with 22 points.
Park opened the scoring in the 13
th minute. After taking a pass from
Kaitlyn Schwass,
Rio Spruenken played a perfect ball from midfield down the right flank to Park, who gathered in the ball at the top right of the penalty area. Golden Bears goalkeeper Ashlyn Waldon came out to try and knock the ball away from Park but was a step slow. The sophomore raced past Waldon to the middle of the right edge of the penalty area before firing a shot towards the goal. Park's scoring attempt deflected off a defender into the net for her team-leading 5
th goal of the season.
Less than seven minutes later Park was again racing past the Golden Bears defense. Chasing down a long pass unleashed from
Yasmina Dokara over the top of the defense from midfield, Park caught up to the ball just inside the top left of the penalty area and one-timed a shot with her left foot into the right side of the net for a 2-0 UMary lead.
Spruenken picked up her second assist of the night on the play on her pass to Dokara.
The Golden Bears fired a barrage of shots towards the Marauders goal in the second half but
Madisyn Waltman and the Marauders defense held its ground. Concordia-St. Paul fired a total of 14 shots after intermission but just three of the attempts were on frame. Despite the high volume UMary stood its ground.
Waltman finished the game with six saves, making three in each half. The clean sheet was the 32
nd of her career, a school record.
Concordia-St. Paul finished with the edge in shots (20-7), shots on frame (6-5), and corner kicks (12).
The Marauders wrap up the weekend at 14
th ranked and Northern Sun leader Minnesota State University at 1 pm on Sunday, October 16.
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