Women’s Soccer Ends Skid; Blanks Western Oregon, 3-0

Box Score

Photo Gallery

BILLINGS, Mont. – Two first half goals in a matter of under seven minutes jump-started the Montana State Billings’ offense as it blanked visiting Western Oregon 3-0 Saturday afternoon at Yellowjacket Field. With the win, the Yellowjackets snapped a four-game skid and improved to 9-8-1 on the year and 5-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. WOU fell to 5-11-3 and 3-8 in league play.

“I’m proud of the way we came out and played today,” head coach Don Trentham said. “We’ve been struggling as a team, offensively and defensively over the past four games. To come out and put three goals in the back of the net and have a shutout shows our team what they are capable of doing if they work hard on both sides of the ball.”

The Yellowjackets used goals from Carly Valentine, Samantha Sandau and Kari Foreman, while freshman Jaucelyn Richter and Chelsea Libby added two assists each to move into a tie for first in the league with eight assists a piece. MSUB earns the season sweep versus Western Oregon and now leads the overall series 4-3.

MSUB got on the board early in the first half to set the tone as it dominated much of the possession during the early going and for the game. Carly Valentine scored on two great assists from Richter and Libby for the game winner. Libby fired a ball from midfield to a streaking Richter who flicked it to the center to Valentine for the score. It was the Yellowjackets’ first goal since a 2-1 loss to Carroll College, Oct. 16. The Yellowjackets went a season-long 290:36 without a goal during that span.

“Offensively, we made a few changes that ended up working out really well for us today,” Trentham added. “All of the players we changed in our attack, had a goal or an assist today.”

6:54 later, MSUB found the back of the net as Samantha Sandau scored her third goal of the year with the second assist from Richter. Sandau scored as she turned at the top of the 18 and fired a shot to the lower right corner past Brittney Rigtrup for a 2-0 lead.

The Yellowjackets tallied 14 shots in the first half to just six for the Wolves. MSUB had seven first half corner kicks to none for WOU. Rigtrup made seven first half saves, while MSUB goalkeeper, Jordan Fenwick, stopped two balls.

The game remained 2-0 for much of the second half until the 86th minute as Foreman tallied her seventh score of the year with the assist from Libby.

For the game, Andrea Baytaluke led the team with five shots and three on goal. Richter had four shots with two on goal and two assists.

“It’s great to see the players find a way to get out of the recent slump they have been in,” Trentham said. “We look forward to our next two games against SPU and WWU as we feel if we play the way we did today, we can beat them.”

The Yellowjackets conclude the regular season at home next week as they battle nationally ranked Seattle Pacific Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. and then host Western Washington Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. for Senior Day as a part of Parent’s Weekend.