Women's Soccer | 10/25/2012 6:41:00 PM

Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. – A pair of first-half goals propelled the Western Oregon women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match on Thursday afternoon. The victory allowed WOU to remain in position to qualify for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship as the Wolves moved to 8-8-1 overall and 6-6-1 in league play while Montana State Billings fell to 12-5-0 overall and 8-5-0 in conference action.

“We came out ready to play today and did a great job attacking from the start,” head coach Steve Ancheta said. “They are a great team and put the pressure on us in the second half; however, we did a good job of withstanding the pressure and came away with three important points. It's a big win heading into the regular season finale.”

Marina Austin opened the scoring in the match in the 26th minute as she took a corner from Lindsay Bauman and headed it into the back of the net to give the Wolves an early, 1-0 lead. The goal was the fifth of the season for the senior forward as Bauman supplied her fifth assist.

The Wolves would extend the lead just a few moments later as Bauman connected on a magnificent strike in the 33rd minute. Off a throw-in from Danielle Hayward, Bauman dribbled the ball left and fired a strike from 20-yards out that curled in the top left-hand corner of the net to make the score 2-0.

The Yellowjackets would respond by pressing the attack in the second half; however, the WOU defense held strong until the 80th minute when a penalty was whistled on the Wolves. Heidi Greenback connected on the penalty shot as the Yellowjackets cut the lead in half with 10 minutes remaining.

WOU prevented MSUB from finding the equalizer as the Wolves picked up an important three points and can now clinch a spot in the GNAC Women's Soccer Championship with a win on Saturday or a loss by Saint Martin's in one of the Saints last two games.

The victory allowed WOU to sweep the season series from MSUB as the Wolves picked up the most wins in a season since the 2006 season.

For the match, MSUB held a slight, 13-12 edge in shots while holding a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.

Hillary Lutz picked up the win for the Wolves while making three saves as Aiko Johnson made three saves in net for the Yellowjackets and took the loss.

The Wolves will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 27, when the Wolves look to clinch a spot in the GNAC Women's Soccer Championship when they face Saint Martin's in the regular season finale at 1:00 p.m.