LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Western Illinois women's soccer (2-1-0) maintained its offensive charge and played to its second victory of the season 4-1 over Arkansas-Little Rock (0-3-0) on Sunday (August 26). The team has scored 12 goals in the first three games of the season, a program best by three.
Miranda Graham got the Leathernecks on the board in the second minute of the match with her first goal of the season. Kellie Julius took a free kick that was saved, but Graham sent the rebound into the back of the net.
The Trojans answered with a goal of their own in the tenth minute when a shot was deflected by Alyson Rohane past Leatherneck keeper Laura Atkinson.
Western dominated possession for the rest of the first half recording 13 shots total, two for goals giving the squad a 3-1 advantage. Sarah Hall scored her first goal of the year off of a penalty kick and netted her second of the match a few minutes later on a give-and-go from Skyler Jessop.
In the second half, Sloane Levin beat the keeper from 15 yards out to stretch the lead to 4-1. The goal was Levin's first of the season and also the first of her Leatherneck career.
In her first start of the season, Western keeper Atkinson recorded one save.
"I thought we played our best futbol to date," head coach Ted Flogaites said. "It was our best team performance in terms of utilizing the space on the pitch. Sarah Hall and Skyler Jessop were electric together and the third goal was scintillating. Katie Condon, Gina Scaffidi and Sloane Levin were excellent centrally and from an overall team perspective our decisions on the ball are improving. The defending was really, really good and we are not conceding a lot of shots from open play. Every player contributed in a meaningful way and getting two wins on the road is encouraging for us, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves. we will continue to concentrate on playing the right way, on playing from the heart."
The Fighting Leathernecks are back in action next weekend at Jackson State on Friday (August 31) in Jackson, Miss. and at Mississippi Valley State on Sunday (September 2) in Itta Benna, Miss.
