Nebraska-Kearney 1 Wayne State 0
The Wayne State College women's soccer team fell to Nebraska-Kearney 1-0 in the 2010 season opener at the WSC Soccer Complex in Wayne Thursday afternoon. UNK's Becka Talcott scored the game's lone goal in the 68th minute to give the Lopers the victory over the Wildcats.
Wayne State set the tempo early in the first half as the Wildcats had two scoring chances in the first six minutes of the match. Newcomer Kelsey Meyer placed a corner kick right in front of Loper goaltender Marissa Niday, but the keeper turned away two shots from senior Stephanie Bright and newcomer Liz Israelsen to keep the match scoreless. The Wildcats had four corner kicks in the first half and controlled play early.
The Lopers were aggressive in the second half keeping play in the Wildcats' end in the opening minutes of the stanza. Becca Talcott scored the game's only goal at the 68:59 mark of the half when she capitalized on a pass from Alicia Crawford and put a ball past WSC goalkeeper Emily Walker for a 1-0 UNK lead. WSC put offensive pressure on UNK late, but the Lopers held on for the 1-0 victory.
Nebraska Kearney outshot Wayne State 15-5 in the contest. Both teams managed five corner kicks in the match with four of the Wildcats' five corners coming in the first half and all five of the Loper's corners in the second stanza.
Raliegh Mercer had five shots for Nebraska-Kearney to lead the Loper offensive charge. Nebraska-Kearney's Vanessa Leeper picked up the win in goal playing the second half as she turned away one shot. Marissa Niday got the start in goal for UNK and turned away three shots in the first half.
Wayne State senior goalkeeper Emily Walker faced 15 shots in the game and was credited with six saves while allowing just one goal. Israelsen led the WSC offensive push with two shots. Seniors Mikayla Comba, Stephanie Bright and Tiffani Kellerman each added one shot for the Wildcats.
Wayne State College will be in action again on Saturday, September 4th when the Wildcats host Concordia-Seward in a non-conference contest starting at 3:00 p.m.
