By Ryan Hulligan, Guest Writer
After losing to the Northwestern Wildcats two weeks ago, Xavier women’s soccer looked to get back on track against St. Louis University and Lipscomb last week.
Starting off with a game against the No. 15 ranked Billikens, the Musketeers scored nine minutes into the game with a goal by sophomore midfielder Ella Rogers, assisted by freshman forward Emma Flick. However, the lead didn’t last for long, as St. Louis came right back with a goal of their own five minutes later. The two teams went on to trade a few fouls for about 15 minutes before Flick took it upon herself to get the goal this time down the field. She was assisted by freshman forward Regan Dancer. Xavier went into the half 2-1, outshooting the Billikens 5-2.
St. Louis wasted no time coming back. Five minutes into the second half, they put one in the back of the net. Fighting hard, both the Musketeers and the Billikens received yellow cards and multiple fouls. Later on the Billikens capitalized again on a free kick. The Musketeers struggled to move the ball up the field this half, only putting up one shot. Unable to find their way to another goal, Xavier lost 3-2, making them 4-2-1 on the season.
Back at Corcoran Field on Sunday, though, they got back on track and took the win against Lipscomb.
Junior forward Sonia Vargas and Rogers started off the game strong putting up a couple shots each, both scoreless. Lipscomb struck first with a goal 28 minutes into the game. Xavier stepped up their defense and offense and scored a goal thereafter.
Graduate student forward Brooke Sroka finished the ball off with an assist from fellow graduate student midfielder Molly McLaughlin. Lipscomb got a couple more shots up but couldn’t finish any of them off. The score was 1-1 as neither team scored for the remainder of the second half.
However, the Musketeers came out red hot after Lipscomb was called for a foul in the penalty box. McLaughlin stepped up and put the penalty kick away. Xavier controlled the second half, barely letting Lipscomb get near the goal and held them to zero shots.
80 minutes in, Flick scored her third goal of the season with an assist from junior midfielder Elise Le. Up 3-1, Xavier made a few substitutions, one of those being sophomore forward Chloe Netzle, who scored her second goal of the season in her first two minutes on the field, assisted by Rogers. After completely shutting Lipscomb down in the second half, Xavier took the win with a tie of their season high of goals in a game at four, compared to Lipscombs’ one. The Musketeers moved to 5-2-1 on the season with this win.
The Musketeers will try to keep up the momentum this Friday against Bowling Green on Corcoran Field at 6 p.m.
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