Editor's Note: After a week hiatus, the Women's Soccer Player Blog is back with junior Nicole Sperl.
Cleveland State Friday
We were excited to be back at home under the lights of Engelmann field, despite the nasty cold, rainy weather. Our opponent, Cleveland State, came off a big weekend, beating Detroit and tying Loyola, so we were prepared for a game against a scrappy team. Sophomore Laurel “Caribou” Ragalie started off the scoring under 20 minutes into the game and then found the back of the net 10 minutes later, off an assist by Kate “Baby Face Magy” Megna—which broke the career record for assists. We really are very proud of her!!!
We went into half time with a 2-0 lead, knowing that we should have finished more of our chances. We came out strong in the second half, Kate and Sarah “Apple Big Head” Hagen got the ball rolling off a corner kick. Then a short time later, our newly-appointed right back Erin “Come Again” Kreuser, showed her lighting speed and the only way of stopping her was to trip her in the box. Apple calmly stepped up to the penalty marker and slid the ball right past the keeper. Once again “Baby Face” Megna served up yet another sick ball to Apple, giving her back-to-back games of scoring three goals, aka a “hat trick”, while Megna continues to make her record untouchable.
Kenzie “I wear headbands” Gillaspie had probably the goal of the game… from about 25 yards out—fired a shot and hit the bottom of the cross bar and went in. Then, Sammy “Too fast to handle” Vovos jumped over a Cleveland state defender to finish a nicely served ball from Laurel. Our eighth and final goal came from freshman Meghan “Elvi” Elvington, who had an unassisted goal from 15 yards out, the first of her college career.
Youngstown State Sunday – Parent’s Day
After coming off a good game of finishing, we knew the expectations would be just as high on Sunday. We were also honoring our parents and wanted to make them proud. We jumped on YSU early within five minutes Laurel Ragalie started off the scoring from an assist from Megna. We held possession well and found the back of the net again this time Nicole Hirsch giving the assist to Keara Thompson. They had a quick transition goal on us and made the score 2-1, but we responded well and scored within two minutes of their goal. Once again Apple gave us the third goal by following up and getting a rebound and tucking it away. The clock was dwindling down to the last couple minutes of the first half when Sarah Talbert passed the ball to Keara, who then beat a couple of defenders and hit a shot from 20 yards out. Seconds later Megna served a ball just behind the defense; Apple ran on to it and was able to chip the goalie. So we ended the half 5-1.
Youngstown came out a little bit more defensively on us, making it very difficult for us to generate much offense. But, Sammy Vovos was able to give us a little spark after beating a couple of players out wide and serving the ball to Louis Vraney who tucked it away in the corner. We were able to keep them from generating any threatening chances. Coming away with a 6-1 win on parents’ day, now we are looking to prepare for our away game on Friday at Detroit. After that, we come home for Pink Out/Senior Day against Wright State next Sunday.
Hope to see you there!
