Soccer takes two in home stand

Bobbi Patrick
Staff Writer

This past weekend in Mankato, MN, the Maverick soccer team won against both the Winona State Warriors on Friday afternoon and the Upper Iowa Peacocks on Sunday afternoon. 

Minnesota State defeated the Warriors, 3-1, and then went on to defeat Upper Iowa, 4-1, in the team’s third homestand of the season. 

In the first game of the weekend, the Mavericks kicked off their opening game of the weekend against Winona State with a goal right away in the fifth minute of the first half by junior midfielder Alesha Duccini. 

The goal scored was an assist via a corner kick by senior forward Morgan Cottew.

Minnesota State outshot Winona State 11 shots to four in the first half of the game, with the Mavs being the only one to net a goal in the first half. 

In the second half, sophomore forward Molly Sarafolean scored with an assist from Duccini in the 47th minute of the game. The third and final goal was put in by sophomore forward Molly Riley with an assist from the freshman forward Jenny Vetter.

The Warriors scored one goal in the 66th minute of the game, but unfortunately for the Warriors, Minnesota State’s goalkeeper, Alexa Rabune, was on her A game the rest of the day, make 4 saves out of 5 close shots on net. 

The Mavericks reaped more goals in the second half, scoring three more goals in a span of just seven minutes, giving the Mavericks a 3-1 win over the Warriors.

After the Mavericks defeated Winona, the team took a day off to recover and then faced off against Upper Iowa.

The Mavericks jumped out to a quick lead early on in the game. In the eighth minute of the game, junior midfielder Dakota Wendell headed the ball in off a corner kick, netting her third goal of the season and was assisted by freshman forward Jenny Vetter.

Everything went quiet the rest of the half, with the Mavericks up, 1-0, going into the break.

In the second half of the ball-game, forward Molly Riley kicked off the scoring for the Mavs, netting her second goal of the season in the 66th minute of the game, with an assist from Wendell. 

Two Minutes later, Riley scored another goal with an assist from freshman forward Nadia Lowery. 

The 4th and final goal came in the 73rd minute when forward Cottew shot a goal with an assist from senior defender Morgan Seemuth. 

Goalkeeper Rabune only faced five total shots because of the defense the Mavericks put up. The Peacocks’ goalkeeper, Natalie Rudrud, was on her toes the whole game, facing 16 shots on goal from the Mavs, only blocking 12 of those shots.

The Mavericks defeated the Peacocks, 4-1, on Sunday, and improved their record to 4-1 on the season.

The Mavericks look ahead to their next game in Duluth on Friday, Sept. 21st at 7 p.m. to play Minnesota Duluth. They then travel up to St. Cloud, Minn., and play St. Cloud State Sunday, Sept. 23rd at 1 p.m. Both games are conference tournament games. 

Feature photo by Gage Cureton/MSU Reporter