For Head Coach Shannon Andringa’s first homecoming weekend at Northwestern, the Raider women’s soccer team took on Briar Cliff at their home soccer complex. The quick and aggressive Chargers were undefeated in conference play heading into the match and proved to be too difficult an opponent and delivered a 0 – 3 loss to the Raiders.
The match got off to a quick start as the Chargers pushed on offense and left the Raiders defending attacks for most of the first half. The Raider defense kept busy fending off 12 shots with nine saves from junior goalkeeper Kaelin Alons. However, these defensive efforts were not enough to stave off a penalty shot by the Chargers, leaving the score 0-1 heading into halftime.
The second half proved to be even quicker for the Charger offense, scoring a second goal in the 48th minute. The header by Charger Hannah Shuttleworth set an aggressive tone for Briar Cliff’s offense in the second half. Though the Raider women held off the Chargers as best they could, it was not enough to stop Briar Cliff from scoring one more goal in the 87th minute, leaving the score 0 – 3 at the end of the night. Briar Cliff outshot the Raiders 23 – 1, with the single shot attempt by junior midfielder, Julie Dunlap. Alons had 15 saves on the night. The Raiders are defeated in conference play at 0 – 2 after this match and 3 – 5 overall.
“It’s easy to look at the score and be frustrated or discouraged, but Coach [Andringa] always reminds us to keep our heads up.” said senior midfielder Brenna Rauwerdink. “Briar Cliff is a good team, and we grew in that game. Though we may only remember the negative things that happened in the game, there were a lot of good things that happened too. We learned a lot from it and are using that knowledge to improve before our next game.”
The Raider women were back on their home pitch Wednesday, September 22th against Morningside where they had a tough go and dropped the game against the Mustangs 4-1. The women are also back at home on the following Saturday, September 25 agasint the Concordia Bulldogs at 1 p.m.
