ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University women’s soccer team captured their first win of the season, knocking down the San Francisco State Gators by a score of 2-1. Emily Darcy had a massive day offensively, scoring both goals for the Wildcats.
With today’s win, the first collegiate head coaching victory for Lindsey Lee is in the books.
“I felt very good about our performance today, the girls made great adjustments to a tactical approach, and they won their one-on-one and 50-50 battles,” Lee said. “I felt the girls decided they were going to find a way to win the game, they just made the choice and it made a big difference.”
After dropping the first match of the season to Chico State, the coaches made some changes.
“The coaching staff made an effort to be much more specific with roles and responsibilities, and it felt like that carried over to the girls being much more confident and having some freedom on the field,” Lee said.
CWU recorded their first shots in the 10th and 12th minute, coming from Cassidie Andrews and Stacia Conely respectively.
In the 14th minute, Conely got the ball around midfield and dribbled up the left flank. She sent a cross into the box and found Darcy, who finished off the play by heading the ball past the SFS goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead.
The Gators bounced back almost immediately. In the 16th minute, Samantha Shim found the back of the net.
CWU made a series of subs in the 22nd minute, including bringing on Kayla Gout. Gout found herself taking a shot less than a minute after coming onto the field, but it was saved.
Goalkeeper Mallory Patzer recorded her second save of the match in the 30th minute. Besides that, both teams failed to generate much offensive pressure for the rest of the half. At halftime, the game was tied 1-1.
The first 15 minutes of the second half were in CWU’s favor. A series of substitutions led to three straight scoring opportunities around the 55th minute, with Darcy and Jordan Bartlow recording shots.
The Gators became more threatening after that, recording multiple shots on goal. Every shot was saved by Kassandra Jaggard, who replaced Patzer at halftime.
The first yellow card of the game was awarded to CWU after the referee cautioned Paige Savage in the 68th minute.
In the 81st minute, the Gators were circulating the ball in their half when a defender passed it back to their goalkeeper. The goalkeeper didn’t have time to react and the ball bounced off the left post.
Darcy was at the right spot at the right time and pounced on the opportunity. She charged at the ball, beating the SFS defender to the ball, and slotted it into an empty net. The Wildcats led 2-1.
That was the last recorded shot of the match, as the Gators failed to generate enough offensive pressure to change the final outcome.
The Wildcats logged 14 shots (six on goal) while holding the Gators to nine shots (five on goal). Both teams recorded four saves.
Darcy led the team in shots (5). Savage logged two shots while Andrews, Conely, Bartlow, Gout, Payton Lindell and Teryn Mendez had one each.
“Emily crushed it today with 2 goals, I also think we’ve also had standout performances from Peyton Vogel in the last two games and being a rock for us,” Lee said.
But Coach Lee and the rest of the coaching staff were even more impressed by the impact of everyone on the team.
“Even though those two stood out – everyone on the team bought into their role today and we couldn’t ask for more as a coaching staff,” she said.
SCORING RECAP
14′ CWU Goal. Scored by Emily Darcy, assisted by Stacia Conely.
16′ SFS Goal. Scored by Samantha Shim, assisted by Emily Fraye.
81′ CWU Goal. Scored by Emily Darcy, unassisted.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats (1-1) will travel to Colorado for a two-match road trip. They’ll take on Colorado Springs on Wednesday, Sept. 7, at 6:30 p.m. They’ll finish the week with a match at MSU Denver on Friday, Sept. 9, at 10 a.m.
