Lady Yellowjackets Maul Marauders (Oct. 5,
2003)
Box Score
BILLINGS, MT – Yellowjacket Field has been
friendly to the MSU Billings women’s soccer team this year and
that pattern held true Sunday as the Lady Yellowjackets dominated
the University of Mary in a 4-1 win. MSUB returned home after
seven-straight road games and treated a record crowd to a
commanding performance. The win improved MSUB’s season record to
4-6-1. Mary fell to 8-5-1.
Stephanie Clark (Sr., Tualatin, OR) broke a
scoreless tie in the 37th minute when she headed in Ally Taylor’s (Fr., Ojai, CA) corner kick. It was Clark’s second
goal of the season and Taylor’s third assist.
“We played pretty complacent in the first
half,” said head coach Don Trentham. “There was a lot of
anticipation to come out strong and play well to start the game,
but it just didn’t happen. Steph’s goal was big in getting us
going.”
After a spirited halftime talk, the
Yellowjackets wasted no time extending their lead, scoring just 48
seconds into the second half. Sara Otis (Sr., Vancouver, WA)
found Margot Merrill-Johnson (Jr., Salt Lake City) at the top of
the box and Merrill-Johnson nailed a shot to the back of the net.
“We were definitely slow at the start,” said
Otis. “We’ve been working on possession all week and we just
weren’t clicking in the first half. Once we got one goal in the
net it gave us some confidence. We came back out in the second
half and settled down. We were able to refocus and regroup at
halftime.”
Whatever was said at halftime worked as the
Yellowjackets scored three goals in under twelve minutes at the
start of the second half. Otis followed Merrill-Johnson’s goal
with one of her own at 54:29 after Kendall Blanc (Fr., Lehi, UT)
made a nice feed into the box. Merrill-Johnson netted her second
goal of the game and team-leading sixth goal of the season at
57:17 to break open the game and five MSUB a 4-0 lead. Taylor
assisted on the goal for her team-leading fourth assist of the
year.
“Coming out of the California trip we
actually had a lot of momentum,” said Otis. “We played really
well in two of the three games against very good teams. We
learned a lot from those games. And it made a big difference
playing at home in front of a nice crowd. This week we got to put
aside the stress of missed class and travel, and we had our own
fans, which helped.”
The Yellowjackets gave up the Marauders’ lone
goal at 75:33 when goalkeeper Alyssa Wolfer (Fr., Longmont, CO) was
drawn away from the net and Nicole Benedict scored. It was the
first goal allowed by MSUB at home this season. Wolfer played the
final 25:31 after replacing Megan Plank (Fr., Phoenix, AZ), who
made six saves and didn’t allow a goal in 64:29.
“We started the second half like we wanted to
start the first,” said Trentham. “We were about 45 minutes late,
but I guess we’ll take it. It was nice to see a player like Sara
Otis show a lot of maturity. She didn’t play well in the first
half, but came back and had an important assist and a nice goal in
the second half.”
MSU Billings will take to the road again this
week, playing at the University of Minnesota-Crookston on Friday
and at Northern State (SD) on Sunday.
Photos of Women's Soccer vs. University of Mary |
