BISMARCK ND – A dominant effort by the University of Mary women's soccer team carried the Marauders to a 2-0 win over visiting University of Minnesota Crookston. The victory completed a weekend sweep for UMary and propelled the Marauders back into the Northern Sun playoff hunt.
Including Friday's 2-1 win over Bemidji State, the Marauders picked up six points on the weekend and jumped several slots in the standings into a 3-way tie for the 8
th and final NSIC playoff slot. UMary has five games remaining in the regular season, including the next two at home.
The Marauders (4-6-3 overall, 3-4-2 NSIC) dominated the stat sheet, taking 29 shots with eight on goal while a smothering UMary defense didn't allow the Golden Eagles to take a single shot in the contest. Additionally UMary launched 13 corner kicks while UMC had zero.
Taking advantage of their plethora of corner kicks, the Marauders struck first in the 12
th minute of play. Triggering the corner from the right of the goal,
Mo Malone floated a perfect ball. Sailing above the crowd,
Olivia Gardner headed the ball just outside the goal box into the top left corner of the frame. The counter was the second of the year for Gardner while the assist was the fourth for Malone.
The Marauders sealed the game with a goal from
MaLiah Burke in the second half. Taking a thru ball from
Rio Spruenken, Burke gathered the ball 30 yards out and split a pair of Golden Eagles defenders. With Golden Eagles goalkeeper Abby Olsen coming off her line to challenge Burke, the Marauders attacker bypassed Olsen to tap home her team-leading third goal of the year.
Molly Fischer earned her fifth clean sheet of the season for the Marauders.
UMary continues its home stand when the Marauders host Concordia-St. Paul on Friday, October 20, at 7 pm.
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