MONMOUTH, Ore. – Coming off of a four-goal game on Friday, Humboldt State came in riding high. The Western Oregon University women's soccer team set the tone early and after collecting what would turn out to be the only goal of the game, the Wolves took the 1-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at the WOU Soccer Field.
"It feels great to get our first win today. We've been playing well, but struggling to score, so it's nice to get an early goal. The back line has been solid all year and are very deserving of a shutout, we knew it was coming," head coach Kacey Bingham said. "We still have a lot of work to do before conference play starts. This is a very motivated group and I know we'll keep improving."
WOU (1-3) came out ready to go, generating a few chances right away. After earning a corner kick in the eighth minute, the Wolves kept pushing and got on the board a few minutes later.
On a nice pass up the middle by Chloe Smith, Piper Matson got loose near the middle of the box firing a low corner shot that was saved. On the rebound, Jada Foster was right there to score her second of the season in the 12th minute for the 1-0 lead.
HSU (2-1-1) started to get momentum going around the 15th minute getting a couple of shots, with one being saved by Darien Walton.
After the Lumberjacks had a couple more chances, Briana Kubli broke in and nearly stretched the lead to two when her shot was saved.
HSU had one more chance in the closing minute, but the shot went wide leaving WOU with the 1-0 halftime lead.
The 'Jacks started the second half like WOU did the opening minutes of the contest. Within the first minute, Kendal Spencer fired a shot from fairly close in off the left side that was turned away by Walton. A couple of minutes later, Walton secured another save to keep it a 1-0 lead.
WOU countered around the 52nd minute with a couple of good chances from Smith and Liz Parker, with Parker's shot being saved.
It remained a defensive battle over the next several minutes before WOU had another chance in the 72nd minute by Kubli that was saved.
Neither team had a serious scoring chance over the closing moments of the half with HSU getting a couple of deep shots that missed the net and one by WOU the missed the net leaving the Wolves with the 1-0 victory.
Humboldt State held an 11-9 edge in shots, while WOU had a 5-4 edge on goal. Each team had three corner kicks and there 17 fouls in the game, 10 whistled on WOU.
Matson, Smith, Parker and Kubli all had two shots in the game, while Foster added the other shot which ended up being the only goal. Three Wolves played all 90 minutes in Jenna Efraimson, Holly Schmitz and Darien Walton. Walton started in goal and tallied four saves for the shutout win.
Baylee Groom took six of the 11 shots for Humboldt State. Alexis Aguilar started in goal going all 90 minutes and had four saves.
WOU will now be off until Thursday, Sep. 23 when they will open GNAC play on the road at Saint Martin's starting at 3 p.m. in Lacey.
