October 3, 2007

Lady Jackets Hold on For 2-1 Win over Rocky
Box Score
MSUB Season Stats

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings built a 2-0 lead and held on in the second half for a 2-1 non-conference win over Rocky Mountain College Wednesday night in women’s soccer.  The cross-town game was played under the lights and in the rain at Wendy’s Field at Daylis Stadium.

The win improved the Yellowjackets to 7-4-1 overall and dropped the Bears to 2-8-0.  Rocky was coming of a recent upset of third-ranked Carroll College.

The Yellowjackets were in control much of the game but survived scares down the stretch.  MSUB out-shot the Bears 19-5 for the game, including 15-4 in the second half.  The Jackets also had five more shots on goal.

MSU Billings broke the ice at 34:52 when Chelsea Libby (Puyallup, Wash.) took a nice pass from Brittney Sandau (Billings) near the top of the box and fired from about 15 yards.  The goal was Libby’s first of the season, and it was Sandau’s fifth assist.

“We did a good job of getting the ball forward and creating chances,” said Yellowjacket head coach Don Trentham.  “We did a good job of playing the ball on their half.  I thought we could maybe have put one or two more goals in the net.  The offense did a good job of making things happen, and the outside mids did a good job of getting around their backs.  When we’re playing on their half, that helps our defense out too.  Our attack became a good defense for us tonight.”

In the 62nd minute, the Yellowjackets scored what at the time looked like an insurance goal, but later turned out to be the game winner.  Mandy Ploskonka (Federal Way, Wash.) took a pass in the center of the field about 30 yards from the goal.  She worked her way around a defender and fired a rocket into the upper right corner.  It was Ploskonka's sixth goal of the year.

“Mandy’s goal was a great goal,” said Trentham.  “She did well to get around the defender, and she hit it great.  It was an important goal to give us a 2-0 cushion, and it turned out to be really important when they scored a few minutes later.  It was a quality goal, probably one of our best of the season.”

The Bears cut into the lead just four and a half minutes later when Alexis Deleo sent a high bouncing pass toward the Jackets’ goal where it was picked up by Allison Beckers.  Beckers was able to get behind Yellowjacket keeper Jordan Fenwick (Boise, Idaho) for the easy goal.

The Bears’ only other real threat came with just a minute and a half left.  Katrina Gounas sent a long ball high into the rainy night from about 40 yards out.  It hooked, catching Fenwick off guard.  She made a one-handed save at the last moment to preserve the win.  Fenwick had two saves in the game.

The Yellowjackets return to Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Saturday when they host 15th-ranked Seattle University.  Kick off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the MSUB College of Technology.

“We’re excited about every game we win,” said Trentham.  “We don’t look at the opponent we’re playing.  We were excited to win tonight being that it is an in town rival game.  I know we’re really excited to get back into conference play and host one of the top teams in the conference on Saturday.”