Fort Hays State University women’s soccer team (5-4-1, 3-2-1 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) finished their road trip to Missouri with a shutout over Lindenwood University (4-4-2, 3-2-1 MIAA) and a loss to University of Central Missouri ( 9-0-1, 6-0 MIAA) 2-1.
In the first game of the weekend, the Tigers picked up their fifth clean sheet win on the year in a 3-0 win over Lindenwood on Oct. 3.
“That was a different game,” said Craig Shaw, head coach. “I thought we played really well.”
Mallory Diederich, Topeka junior, scored her first goal on the year. After a Lions’ foul, she was able to score the goal less than 20 minutes into the match off of a laser from 30 yards out.
“Mallory hit one of the best free kicks I have ever seen,” Shaw said.
Lindenwood played most of the game with just 10 players, and the Tigers took full advantage of the situation.
“It’s really hard to tell what kind of team Lindenwood was,” Shaw said. “I think they did really well with just playing with 10 players, but we knocked the ball around and played our game which was good for us.”
The Tigers picked up two goals in the second half to make it a 3-0 victory.
Midfielder/forward Cenayda Guzman, Oklahoma City, OK. junior, and forward Ember Albertson, Littleton, CO. junior, scored the two other goals for the Tigers.
Guzman has scored in three straight games. This was Albertson’s first goal on the season.
During the game against UCM, the Tigers took the 13th ranked team in the nation to a golden goal situation, but fell on the losing side.
“The effort in the second half was really good,” Shaw said. “Some reason we did not come out and play the first half, whether it was cause we were scared or gave them to much respect, we just didn’t play the game and take it to them like we normally do in the first half.”
Near the midpoint of the first overtime, Taylor Thompson of Central Missouri scored from 30 yards out on a shot out of reach for redshirt goalkeeper Kristen Thompson, Manhattan junior.
“Honestly, going into overtime, if anybody was going to win, I thought it was going to be us,” Shaw said. “We can be the better team, we can beat them easily if we play a full 90.”
The Jennies got their first goal less than 10 minutes into the first half of the game when Hannah Pyle came out of a scramble with the ball to score unassisted.
“Whether it was we weren’t focused or nerves, we just didn’t keep the ball well,” Shaw said.
The defense buckled down on CMU as the Jennies were able to attempt only eight more shots from that point on.
“We worked a lot during the week on a new formation, and we did a great job of it defensively,” Shaw said. “They really didn’t threaten us at all. Defensively, we broke them down.”
Fort Hays would tie it up in the 81st minute when forward Jordan Hester, Olathe junior, scored off an assist from Diederich during a free-kick situation.
“In the second half we controlled the ball a lot better and took the game to them,” Shaw said.