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Western Illinois University Athletics

Seniors
Sarah Ritter
2
North Dakota UND (3-13-1, 1-8-0)
4
Winner Western Ill. WIU (11-6-1, 5-4-0)
North Dakota UND
(3-13-1, 1-8-0)
2
Final
4
Western Ill. WIU
(11-6-1, 5-4-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
North Dakota UND 0 2 2
Western Ill. WIU 1 3 4

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | WIU Athletic Communications

Seniors Shine in Final Game

Zoe Clarke, Bridget Schuler and Cassidy Grunewald all scored in the team’s 4-1 victory.

MACOMB, ILL. – The Western Illinois University Fighting Leatherneck women's soccer team played their final game of the season on Sunday, defeating the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 4-2 at the Northwest Field on WIU's Macomb campus. Western finishes the regular season 5-2 at home, winning 11 total games.
 
The game started out a back-and-forth contest, but Western took an early advantage in the 20th minute. After earning a corner kick, Zoe Clarke teed up an in-swinger that swung hard, making it past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net directly off her kick. The goal was Clarke's first on the season sixth in her Leatherneck career. Neither team would score in the half's remaining 30 minutes, and Western held a one-goal advantage at the break.
 
Western would double the lead early in the second half, with Bridget Schuler scoring in the 49th minute. After an Amy Andrews shot was saved, Schuler found her way to the back post to tap in the rebound and extend the lead to two. The goal was her sixth on the season, which is second only to Andrews for the team lead.
 
Cassidy Grunewald soon joined Clarke and Schuler as goal scorers, placing a ball neatly to the far post in the 62nd minute after a scramble in the box. Grunewald's goal was her first this season and it gave Western a 3-0 lead.
 
North Dakota would make the game interesting, scoring in the 64th and 72nd minutes, but Amy Andrews stomped the door shut in the 80th minute. Off a counter attack and deflected ball in the box, Andrews cut onto her right foot, found herself one-on-one with the Fighting Hawk goalkeeper, and did what she does best – score. Western's lead was back to multiple goals, and the defense held tight the rest of the way as the Leathernecks won 4-2.
 
"When you win on Senior Day everybody is happy," director of soccer Eric Johnson said. "Scoring four goals in a game on Sunday after scoring four on Friday on a wet field that's hard to play on, it was fantastic."
 
"I think this team in the last month has really come a long way in terms of trusting their teammates, making the right pass, reading the game better, and playing with a bit more patience. The passing was good today, unfortunately we gave up two against the run of play, but we had a lot of chances," Johnson added.
 
Western Illinois finished the game with 33 shots (17 on goal), taking five corner kicks and drawing 16 fouls. The offensive outburst led to the UND 'keeper finishing with 13 saves, and Isabel Navas Rodriguez made seven saves of her own.
 
Amy Andrews finished with 11 shots (eight on goal), with Bridget Schuler recording seven (three on goal) and both Natalie Nagle and Jenna Lundgren recording three. Seven Leathernecks played at least 90 minutes in the game, and the duo of Leah Ahlers and Emma Brinkmann both recorded their second-straight game of 30-plus minutes of action off the bench.
 
The 33-shot outburst was one for the record books, ranking as the seventh-most shots ever recorded by a Leatherneck women's soccer team. With 11 shots today, Andrews tied a program record for most shots in a game; Ashley Hoch recorded 11 on Oct. 14, 2005, the only other time in program history that a Leatherneck has recorded more than ten.
 
With the win, the Leathernecks finish their regular season 11-6-1 (5-4), which is the highest win total under director of soccer Eric Johnson. The last time Western had 11 or more wins was 2012, when the team went 13-6.
 
"They've set the standard now for the underclassmen. I wish they all had another year and would come back, but some of them are probably tired of me and they need to move on, right?" Johnson said. "The class of seniors that are here are pretty much our first full recruiting class, so to see them bring the program back to a winning record overall and a winning record in The Summit League, that's a huge achievement. You tell people that you should leave a place better than when you came and they've definitely done that."
 
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