Lady Raiders fall late

The Lady Raiders (2-3-2) fell to Central College in  regulation on Tuesday night by a tally of 2-1.
Northwestern came out firing to start the game,and sophomore Alyssa Duren and sophomore Ann Calsbeek put two shots off the post in the first five minutes.
The Raiders luck changed when Duren knocked in her third goal of the season with an assist from sophomore forward Alli Dunkelberger in the 14th minute.
It was obvious NW’s game plan was to regulate the tempo as soon as the whistle blew.
“We were trying to possess the ball and control the game from the start,” Dunkelberger said.
Central came out with an aggressive and physical style that the Lady Raiders responded well to throughout the contest.
That tenacious didn’t let them stay down for long, and the Dutch came back with a score of their own in the 17th minute to knot the game up 1-1.
“They liked to play the ball in the air, and were pretty direct,” Dunkelberger said. “They looked for their target player to start their attack a lot.”
The Raiders ran into adversity in the 37th minute when a dispute arose after a NW shot appeared to cross the end line for a goal, but the call did not favor the away side.
Coming out of the locker room, the Raiders cleaned up meaningless fouls and began to attack more consistently.
The contest remained deadlocked until Central created a one-on-one situation with sophomore goalkeeper Ariel Watts, found the back of the net with two minutes left in regulation to snatch up the late win.
As a team, NW knows there are things to be improved on.
“For the most part we played a good possession game,” said sophomore Gretchen Sutherland, “and we had some opportunities to finish and it would have been great if they had gone in. We also had some miscommunication issues on defense.”
Dunkelberger led the team with six shots, and Duren was close behind with four of her own. Sophomore Jessica Vanderbaan fired off three shots from the midfield.
Senior Wendy Hofmeyer got the start in goal, and Watts played the second half. Both keepers recorded three saves and a goal against.
The Raiders outshot the Dutch 21-14, and each squad put seven on frame. Central held a slight advantage in corners, 6-3.
The Lady Raiders will travel to Nebraska Wesleyan next Saturday to open their GPAC schedule, and are feeling confident starting the meaningful part of the year.
“We feel good as a team going into conference play.” Sutherland said, “We’re excited to start the [conference] season.”