Soccer kicks off week with win over the Golden Bears

Aaron Young
Staff Writer

A milestone was reached Tuesday when the Minnesota State Mavericks women’s soccer team defeated the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears 3-1. They are now 10-1-1 overall, 8-0-1 in the conference.

This win marked head coach Brian Bahl’s 100th career victory. With six years under his belt, Bahl has an 85.8% winning percentage with the women’s soccer team. That percentage increases to 92.3% when the Mavericks play in conference against NSIC opponents.

Well, this victory didn’t come without some adversity. Early on, Concordia struck the back of the net first after a cross from Hannah Pavek found J. Rowan-Stafford for the score. That was all the Golden Bears could muster up, as the rest of it was Maverick mayhem.

Molly Riley scored first for the Mavericks in the 19th minute of the game, in part to an assist by Dakota Wendell and a lucky bounce that freed her from a defender. Riley now sits at 5 goals for the year. 

About 10 minutes later, freshman Joel Vetter added on to the score column with a goal of her own. She not only put up the second goal of the game, but also her first career goal as a Maverick. Vetter was assisted by sophomore Molly Sarafolean.

At the half it was 2-1 Mavericks. The girls ran back onto the field and came out attacking. Barely five minutes into the second half, Wendell shot a laser from 25 yards out that beat the goalkeeper and adds onto an individual team-high seven goals on the year.

Once it was 3-1, the game was smooth sailing for the Mavericks. The defense didn’t let up a scoring opportunity for the Golden Bears. 

When the game ended, Wendell and her supporting cast outshot Concordia 13-5, and had twice as many shots near the goal.

Goalkeeper junior Alexa Rabune had two saves on three shots for the game. Emily Nelson and Jordyn Clark combined for three saves on six shots.

These girls are giving it their all on the field and it’s showing. This week, Minnesota State Mavericks soccer was announced #22 in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll. Only the Bemidji State Beavers and the Mavericks represent NSIC in this poll, as the Beavers are #5. 

Next up is a matchup with the University of Minnesota Crookston Eagles. Following that game however, is the biggest game of the year, a date with the #5 ranked Bemidji State Beavers. Both games are away but that doesn’t mean you can’t follow them online. Keep it up girls, and here is to success going forward.

Feature photo by Mansoor Ahmad | MSU Reporter.