Mavericks earn two shutout victories

For the first time in the 2016 season the Minnesota State Mavericks soccer team got back-to-back wins over the weekend, and further adding to the good news they both came as shutout wins from two different goalies. Minnesota State started the weekend off Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play away at Sioux Falls and came back home for a game against Southwest Minnesota State.

In their first game of the weekend against Sioux Falls, it took a little bit for either team to get things going but once Minnesota State got some momentum they did not let up. The entire first half came and went without a score from either team, but just under four minutes into the second half the drought would end. Freshman midfielder Alesha Duccini scored a goal off an assist from fellow Senior midfielder Dana Savino. Duccini nabbed herself another goal, this time unassisted, just about thirty minutes later into the match.

The Mavericks made sure to finish off Sioux Falls as sophomore forward Morgan Cottew scored less than a minute after Duccini’s second goal coming off an assist from Senior midfielder Kiana Nickel. Within the 80-minute mark, junior midfielder Jenny Hoerter finished things off by putting up the Mavs 4-0 after notching a goal. It was assisted freshman forward/midfielder Dakota Wendell.

Freshman goalkeeper Ryann Rydeen earned the shutout victory for Minnesota State in her first start of the year. Rydeen made three saves in the game. The Mavericks had 14 shots on goal to the Cougars’ three.

On Sunday the Mavericks returned to The Pitch to take on Southwest Minnesota State. The game ended up eerily similar to the previous outing, which ended in a 4-0 shutout.

It did not take as long to get things rolling this time around, however. Nickel got the Mavericks up on the board first off to that of a penalty kick that she converted a little bit over 16 minutes into the game. The rest of the first half did not see anymore goals.

Hoerter put Minnesota State up 2-0 six minutes into the second half with Savino earning her second assist of the weekend. A few minutes later, Nickel struck again with an unassisted goal. Closing things out was Cottew who scored the final goal of the game off of an assist from Duccini.

Achieving the shutout win for MNSU at goalie was red-shirted sophomore Taylor Livermore, who made two saves. Minnesota State had 12 shots on goal compared to Southwest’s two.

The Mavericks will play in their first back-to-back road games of the year this coming weekend as they face off against Bemidji State on Friday and Minnesota-Crookston on Sunday