Lindenwood Women’s soccer faced UMSL at home in their third game of their spring season after starting the season 1-1.
They beat Truman State University in the first game with a 3-0 victory at home, then traveled to SLU and faced the Billikens. After beating them last spring 2-1 at home, the Billikens were able to beat the Lions this time on their home turf, earning a 3-0 victory. This left the Lions with one win and one loss heading into the game against UMSL.
Some Lions players picked up injuries or are still recovering from previous injuries as they head into the off-season, including Lions goalie Jordan Hollingsworth, who missed all of last season with an injury; Lions freshman midfielder Ayla Homann, who has missed the last three games with a leg injury; and freshman midfielder Avery Thebeau, who was marked as out for the game against UMSL.
The Lions, after facing UMSL last spring, managed to secure a 1-0 victory, as both teams won their respective conferences. This time around, things were different as both teams had gone through some changes, as the Lions were now without three longtime starting seniors, midfielder Rachel Jackson, midfielder Lily Sutter, and Midfielder Ava Blum.
Coach Dave Musso and staff are in the stages of giving some of the younger players and the players who didn’t get much playing time last season a chance to make their marks in the squad in the hopes of being starters in the fall.
The game began with both teams dealing with heavy wind throughout the game, which posed a challenge to both sides. The Lions created more offensive chances early in the game, but the majority of the first half was a lot of exchanged possessions until late in the first half, when the Lions earned a corner with five minutes to go in the half.
The corner was taken by sophomore midfielder Rhyan Ward, who played a short corner to junior midfielder Peyton Hatfield, who dribbled outside the edge of the 18-yard box and took a curling shot on goal that ended up in the top corner, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead and Peyton Hatfield the first goal of her Lindenwood career.
Then a minute later, the Lions would be on the offensive again with Lions sophomore midfielder Sami Roggenkamp taking it up the field from the Lions’ half, finding sophomore forward Maddy Vasiloff, who played the ball to an open Kaylee Conoyer who attempted to settle the ball but chips the ball instead and gets taken down by the UMSL goalie while her ball rolled right into the net giving the Lions a 2-0 lead with four minutes to play in the half.
This goal is also marked as Kaylee Conoyer’s second goal of the spring season and the third of her Lindenwood career.
At the start of the second half, the Lions made a goalie switch, taking out sophomore goalie Caroline Ritter and putting in junior goalie Meg Rossow, who also made an appearance in the Truman State game.
The momentum shifted between the teams, but the wind eased a little more in the second half, with UMSL putting more offensive pressure on the Lions, but the Lions’ defense would not give up, as the Lions’ defense was able to keep UMSL contained, not allowing many offensive chances junior defender Jessica Dodd was a key piece in shutting down UMSLs offensive chances.
The Lions wouldn’t create too many more offensive chances throughout the half until the Lions earned a corner with 12 minutes left in the second half being taken again by Rhyan Ward, who crossed it to the top of the UMSL box with the ball landing at the head of sophomore forward Mackenzie “Tank” Compton, whose header deflected off a UMSL defender and led to both teams fighting for possession until Tank Compton got the ball and fired a low hard shot with an extra bit of wind behind the ball which went bottom corner beating the UMSL goalie who did manage to get a hand on the ball giving the lions the 3-0 lead and Tank Compton her second goal of the spring season. Also giving Rhyan Ward her second assist in the game.
UMSL had one last chance off a corner with less than a minute left in the second half, pulling the goalie up, but ended up just losing possession from a Lions clearance, giving the Lions the 3-0 victory, improving the Lions’ spring record to 2-1, also adding another clean sheet victory for both Lindenwood goalies in the spring. The Lions will finish their spring season at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium on Steward Field against Quincy University on Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m.
